• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

Status
Not open for further replies.

hitgirl

Member
Neat rig, maybe get a recording of the noise. Have you tried powering the fans from an external 12v source?

Thanks! I have not, when I plug them into a motherboard header though the buzz is gone. It's hardly noticeable buzz, I'd probably have a hard time even catching it on a recording. It's not audible from even 1" away. I'm guessing it has something to do with voltage, fan throttling, or bios monitoring when running it through either CPU header which adds the noise.
 
Changed some stuff up with my computer. I added a pcie wifi card that is red and matches my build and prepped the case for my arriving 980. I wanted to simplify my build a bit so I removed the rear intake and push/pull intake, then placed my h100i as a top exhaust in push with the fans. I planned to use Noctuas on the radiator but once I got them in I noticed a loud motor noise, after some tested I noticed all fans I plug into my CPU fan headers have this motor noise for some reason. The corsairs have less of it so I just went with those instead. I then moved the 140mm fans I had as exhaust and use them as an intake. Oh and a few months ago I drilled out the top right drive bay in the 350D.

Build blog - http://imgur.com/a/4B2DX

hopnlWol.jpg

V. sexy. That's a Corsair Obsidian Series 450D, right? I'm considering getting one of these cases for mine.
 

derder

Member
I'm building a video editing PC for my dad who just informed me that he's using our old PC from... 2008...

I have a budget of about $600 (excluding software licenses) and already have the hard drives figured out for storage.

There will be no gaming done on this PC, but adobe video editing software might benefit from discreet graphics?

This PC won't be upgraded for another 6 years, so I don't mind picking up outdated sockets.

What am I looking for in a build here? I'm assuming that this will definitely need a (150GB+) SSD for bluray authoring. This might also be a rare example where hyperthreading helps.
 

Aiustis

Member
Can someone help me find a decent case and a motherboard for 200$ total? I'm not really into fancy cases just a good quality black one. I have the i5 3570k. I'm not sure which ones are good.
 

LilJoka

Member
Thanks! I have not, when I plug them into a motherboard header though the buzz is gone. It's hardly noticeable buzz, I'd probably have a hard time even catching it on a recording. It's not audible from even 1" away. I'm guessing it has something to do with voltage, fan throttling, or bios monitoring when running it through either CPU header which adds the noise.

Probably just because it's using PWM on CPU headers but not on any other headers. Check the pin configuration to make sure. PWM will pulse 12v whereas standard headers will just reduce voltage to reduce fan speed. PWM may give the buzz in that scenario but will allow fans to run slower and will always spin up, whereas on standard headers at low speeds fans can fail to spin up if not careful.

Even if it's a 4pin header doesn't mean it's pwm so the pin configuration has to be confirmed from the manual.
 

crunozaurus

Neo Member
NO! No, no, no. Noooo...

After ~6 years I broke my Sennheiser HD555. It's wrapped in tape for the time being, but I will be needing a new headphones soon ; ;

I would like them to be wireless. Probably the reason HD555 broke is that they kept falling on the floor over and over because of the cord.

Atm I mainly play CS:GO, so sound positioning is very important for me. Sound quality wise HD555 were perfect, but afair I didn't notice huge improvement compared to Steelseries Siberia.

I've heard numerous times that WIRELESS HEADPHONES PLAY BAD. Is it true? Sound quality is that bad? More importantly, do they buzz when you idle?

I want to replace my microphone as well. Therefore it might be a headset or headphones + mic. Currently I am using the one added to Steelseries Siberia which were bought like 8 years ago, probably oldest part of my rig. It works fine unless you touch it, then it records me super silently :|

I would like to spend about 150-200$. I will be buying the headphones in Poland, so some niche models might be not available here.

Sennheiser RS 160? Corsair Vengeance 2000 (they look really awful though)? Anything else worth recommending?
 

ameratsu

Member
So I have been kicking around upgrading for a while now. Currently have a very trusty core2quad gaming pc that I mostly built in 2007, but upgraded the video card in 2010, and bought a 120gb SSD a few weeks ago. It's getting to the point where there are DX11 games that just won't run (Evolve Beta), or I have compatibility issues due to using legacy 4890 drivers in Win 8.1 (Transistor).

The thing is, I'm generally against buying anything technology related mid-cycle. I'm mostly wondering how I should be considering processor/architecture lifecycles when it comes to buying new PC parts. I feel inclined just to wait it out if a new architecture is coming out in the next 6 months, though maybe I'm looking at this wrong. I understand that you could play the waiting game forever, and maybe I need to accept that I won't ever get the sort of extreme value again that my current PC has given me.

I understand intel will be potentially introducing Skylake as early as the middle of this year. Since I have no immediate need for a new PC, but would like to upgrade this year, would it be worth waiting? My PC is mostly used for gaming.
 

kharma45

Member
Can someone help me find a decent case and a motherboard for 200$ total? I'm not really into fancy cases just a good quality black one. I have the i5 3570k. I'm not sure which ones are good.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($131.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $181.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-03 13:48 EST-0500

The ASUS LK is my main choice in that price range but I could only see an open box one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ignorebbr=1&cm_re=Z77-_-13-131-837R-_-Product

the Extreme4 isn't a perfect board, ASRock told some lies around it, but it's still far from a bad board. A hyper 212 would be a good buy too. Would let you overclock the motherboard.

Edit - this Biostar board is also good http://www.outletpc.com/zu3768-bios...ontent=Biostar+-+Motherboards > Intel LGA1155
 
Question for you guys.

Put together my dads computer. It will run fine for like 10 minutes and then freeze, it's done this a few times. I tried to run a refresh through Windows 8.1 install disc and it said it there was a problem refreshing your PC. Nothing through the Windows 8.1 refresh/repair from the install disc are working.

Any ideas? It was fine for all the driver installations. I downloaded speedfan/cpuz and everything looked apporpriate. My only thought is something might be wrong w/ the SSD and I should just format the drive again and hope reinstall Windows.

Any ideas?
 

LilJoka

Member
Question for you guys.

Put together my dads computer. It will run fine for like 10 minutes and then freeze, it's done this a few times. I tried to run a refresh through Windows 8.1 install disc and it said it there was a problem refreshing your PC. Nothing through the Windows 8.1 refresh/repair from the install disc are working.

Any ideas? It was fine for all the driver installations. I downloaded speedfan/cpuz and everything looked apporpriate. My only thought is something might be wrong w/ the SSD and I should just format the drive again and hope reinstall Windows.

Any ideas?

Probably the ram, dont ever bother with Windows repair.
Make a memtest86+ bootable USB an run it. See if it reports any RAM errors. Then if errors are reported test the RAM modules individually.
 

kennah

Member
So I have been kicking around upgrading for a while now. Currently have a very trusty core2quad gaming pc that I mostly built in 2007, but upgraded the video card in 2010, and bought a 120gb SSD a few weeks ago. It's getting to the point where there are DX11 games that just won't run (Evolve Beta), or I have compatibility issues due to using legacy 4890 drivers in Win 8.1 (Transistor).

The thing is, I'm generally against buying anything technology related mid-cycle. I'm mostly wondering how I should be considering processor/architecture lifecycles when it comes to buying new PC parts. I feel inclined just to wait it out if a new architecture is coming out in the next 6 months, though maybe I'm looking at this wrong. I understand that you could play the waiting game forever, and maybe I need to accept that I won't ever get the sort of extreme value again that my current PC has given me.

I understand intel will be potentially introducing Skylake as early as the middle of this year. Since I have no immediate need for a new PC, but would like to upgrade this year, would it be worth waiting? My PC is mostly used for gaming.
1. There is always something new coming. Always.

2. The past 4 CPU generations have only been a 10 to 15 pct speed increase.

3. Gpu generations have started lasting 2 years. The 970 is recent and a safe buy.
 

Gambit61

Member
How does Windows 8.1 key licenses work? I just installed a new motherboard/cpu (amd to intel) and I'm guessing I need a new activation key?
 
How does Windows 8.1 key licenses work? I just installed a new motherboard/cpu (amd to intel) and I'm guessing I need a new activation key?
You should be able to use it, contrary to what everything says. You may need to give MS a call and get a second verification key, but it should work.
 
Probably the ram, dont ever bother with Windows repair.
Make a memtest86+ bootable USB an run it. See if it reports any RAM errors. Then if errors are reported test the RAM modules individually.

I've never actually ran it. I'm running memtest right now. How many passes do you go through before you think it's stable? Google tells me a lot of people use a lot of different #'s for being good.
 

LilJoka

Member
I've never actually ran it. I'm running memtest right now. How many passes do you go through before you think it's stable? Google tells me a lot of people use a lot of different #'s for being good.

I find that DOA Ram usually errors pretty fast, within an hour at most.
RAM incorrectly configured can take a lot longer to error.

Run for an hour atleast id say. And yeah some tests are better than others within it.

If you get no errors the next thing woul be the OS Drive, possibly a bad SSD, so here you can try a reinstall.

Exactly what software & drivers have been installed since fresh install?
 
I find that DOA Ram usually errors pretty fast, within an hour at most.
RAM incorrectly configured can take a lot longer to error.

Run for an hour atleast id say. And yeah some tests are better than others within it.

If you get no errors the next thing woul be the OS Drive, possibly a bad SSD, so here you can try a reinstall.

Exactly what software & drivers have been installed since fresh install?

Windows 8.1 -> Mobo drivers (ether/sound/intel hd graphics) -> Firefox

Testing one of the 2 gig (2x2) now and have 1 pass. Didn't think I would be at my parents all day doing this uggggh. This is the first time I've built a computer and it hasn't just gone perfect :( :( :(

edit: SSD is 840 Pro.
 

RGM79

Member
Same speeds, buzzing is still there at all speeds on five fans I tested when plugged into either CPU header.

That's really bizarre. You sure it has nothing to do with fan orientation? You said grinding earlier - that would seem to be an issue with the fan blades not rotating freely.

It cost me $120, w/ a $20 MIR on top of that. So, basically, I'd entertain looking at something a little higher end if I could get a comparable (or better) discount.

In theory, I can just wait for stock, but that could cost me that MIR and another $35 from other parts, so... yeah.

Were you interested in low noise? That's generally what the RM series power supplies are for. The EVGA Supernova G2 750 watt is available for $110 after $15 rebate from Newegg.ca - gold rated, fully modular. It was cheaper in the past, but right now is in your price budget and is one of the best PSU models you can buy.

If you want something also decent but cheaper, there are 750 watt bronze rated semi-modular power supplies I can recommend:

EVGA Supernova B2 750 watt for $69 after $20 rebate - Jonny Guru review
Antec High Current Gamer 750 watt for $90 after $20 rebate - Jonny Guru review

I'm building a video editing PC for my dad who just informed me that he's using our old PC from... 2008...

I have a budget of about $600 (excluding software licenses) and already have the hard drives figured out for storage.

There will be no gaming done on this PC, but adobe video editing software might benefit from discreet graphics?

This PC won't be upgraded for another 6 years, so I don't mind picking up outdated sockets.

What am I looking for in a build here? I'm assuming that this will definitely need a (150GB+) SSD for bluray authoring. This might also be a rare example where hyperthreading helps.

I assume you're in the US? Which programs does he use exactly? So he'll need a 240/250/256GB SSD and a blu-ray drive? Will any parts from the old computer be reused, like the hard drives I assume?

Here's a starting build to consider:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($187.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($127.50 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($92.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $613.33
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-03 15:25 EST-0500

Parts can still be changed around like the processor and motherboard, but I consider the power supply and SSD to be the best you can get for the price. Dropping down to 8GB RAM would free up some money, but he may want to keep the 16GB. Going to a cheaper processor is an option too, but I don't think going for weaker all around performance is justifiable for improvements in a few scenarios with graphics card related processing. You mentioned hyperthreading, but it won't be possible to get that without spending $240 on the Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3... but then that doesn't have integrated graphics, so you will definitely need a video card as well, so going with hyperthreading means a $100 budget increase at the very least.. and if you're spending $300 on the processor and graphics card, that means you're already in spending territory of the i7 47XX processor line. It's $290 for for the i7 4790 ($250 if you can buy from Microcenter instore).
 
Hmm you can try using something like HDTune to check the SMART Statistics of the SSD.

Does the PC hard lock or BSOD?

Hard lock. I'm not familiar with HDTune. Let me google that.

edit: Downloaded it and got it installed after it froze twice on restarts, ugh. Running the error scan now. If this comes back clean, then it must be the mobo?

I liked this a lot more when I built PCs and everything just worked :(
 

LilJoka

Member
Hard lock. I'm not familiar with HDTune. Let me google that.

edit: Downloaded it and got it installed after it froze twice on restarts, ugh. Running the error scan now. If this comes back clean, then it must be the mobo?

I liked this a lot more when I built PCs and everything just worked :(

Very much doubt its the mobo. Sounds more like SSD so far to me to. I mean even if SMART stats show its ok, id go ahead and use a spare drive to rule it out.
 
Very much doubt its the mobo. Sounds more like SSD so far to me to. I mean even if SMART stats show its ok, id go ahead and use a spare drive to rule it out.

Error test came back nothing. Have an old HD that I will have to see what's on it if I can format it.
 
Installed the OS on the old HD. Really at this point I hope there are no issues so I know it's the SSD and I can just take it back to Best Buy.
 

Blitzhex

Member
Changed some stuff up with my computer. I added a pcie wifi card that is red and matches my build and prepped the case for my arriving 980. I wanted to simplify my build a bit so I removed the rear intake and push/pull intake, then placed my h100i as a top exhaust in push with the fans. I planned to use Noctuas on the radiator but once I got them in I noticed a loud motor noise, after some tested I noticed all fans I plug into my CPU fan headers have this motor noise for some reason. The corsairs have less of it so I just went with those instead. I then moved the 140mm fans I had as exhaust and use them as an intake. Oh and a few months ago I drilled out the top right drive bay in the 350D.

Build blog - http://imgur.com/a/4B2DX

hopnlWol.jpg

dillonyousonofabitchm6d7p.gif


I've got the exact same build and fan setup, but I'm still using a rear intake. Any change in temps/dust without it?
Also, how hard was it to remove the drive cage? I've got zero experience with power tools.
 
Ok.

Just ran it for a little while with the different HD, no issues. Turned off, turned on and froze within 2 minutes with a hard lock. BUT, this time though, I got a BSOD about 5 seconds later? It had a ":(" so I assume this is the new BSOD. It also said:

"machine_check_exception". Google tells me this is just a generic hardware error.

What does that mean?

I feel like the ram has been ruled out, the fact that I've had had this with the new SSD and an old 7200 HD that it isn't the SSD/HD? So hard lock freezes is CPU/MOBO?
 

crunozaurus

Neo Member
Ok.

"machine_check_exception". Google tells me this is just a generic hardware error.

What does that mean?

In my case it was RAM.

CPU and RAM was OC'ed for nearly a year, everything was running fine, but over a month ago I had the machine check exception twice. Reduced my DDR frequency to 1600 and sharepened timings instead, working fine so far.

1333 CL 9 @ 1800 CL9 was probably too much.
 
In my case it was RAM.

CPU and RAM was OC'ed for nearly a year, everything was running fine, but over a month ago I had the machine check exception twice. Reduced my DDR frequency to 1600 and sharepened timings instead, working fine so far.

1333 CL 9 @ 1800 CL9 was probably too much.

Bah, nothing is over clocked. Ram seemed to test fine.
 

LilJoka

Member
Ok.

Just ran it for a little while with the different HD, no issues. Turned off, turned on and froze within 2 minutes with a hard lock. BUT, this time though, I got a BSOD about 5 seconds later? It had a ":(" so I assume this is the new BSOD. It also said:

"machine_check_exception". Google tells me this is just a generic hardware error.

What does that mean?

I feel like the ram has been ruled out, the fact that I've had had this with the new SSD and an old 7200 HD that it isn't the SSD/HD? So hard lock freezes is CPU/MOBO?

Use bsod viewer, double click the bsod entry and screenshot everything and post here

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

Do you have a sound card?
Any peripherals except m&k?
Anything extra on top of the basics to use windows?
Full specs?

Machine check exception can be CPU instability. Go into bios and load optimised defaults.
 
Use bsod viewer, double click the bsod entry and screenshot everything and post here

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

Do you have a sound card?
Any peripherals except m&k?
Anything extra on top of the basics to use windows?
Full specs?

Machine check exception can be CPU instability. Go into bios and load optimised defaults.

Friend actually suggested just that. Downloaded it and it did not detect the one BSOD that happened. Have to check to see if it's trying to document it in system properties.

M&K only. Nothing else is installed. No sound card.
Full specs: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/mpmaley/saved/XdzH99
 
Complete novice upgrade question here:
I just got a small SSD which I will be installing in my desktop computer as my OS drive (running 8.1) once I get back to school. I intend to keep the old 1 TB hard drive running Windows 7 in the computer as the bulk storage drive. My question is this: since the SSD is running a different OS than is installed on the bulk drive, do I need to reinstall all my games and other programs on the bulk drive to be able to access them through the 8.1 OS?
 
well, i was gonna build my first pc but i've decided not go ahead with the purchase. just don't feel comfortable spending over £1000 on something I don't feel confident building. Maybe another time.
 

LilJoka

Member
Ran the Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool. It passed, no issues.

It has to be the MOBO at this point, right?

Mobo and CPU are the hardest thing to diagnose for problems. Literally the only way to know is to try a spare.

Last thing to try is to update the motherboard bios. If the problem persists Rma the board. Then if the problem persists Rma the CPU.
 

RGM79

Member
NoRéN;145884838 said:
Anyone here with a corsair 200r case and a liquid cup cooler? Want to make sure about fit and compatibility.
Which cooler exactly?

well, i was gonna build my first pc but i've decided not go ahead with the purchase. just don't feel comfortable spending over £1000 on something I don't feel confident building. Maybe another time.

Alright, it's your choice.

Complete novice upgrade question here:
I just got a small SSD which I will be installing in my desktop computer as my OS drive (running 8.1) once I get back to school. I intend to keep the old 1 TB hard drive running Windows 7 in the computer as the bulk storage drive. My question is this: since the SSD is running a different OS than is installed on the bulk drive, do I need to reinstall all my games and other programs on the bulk drive to be able to access them through the 8.1 OS?
Ideally you will want to backup and reformat the old Windows drive, and that means reinstalling your programs.
 

NoRéN

Member
Which cooler exactly?
H60 or the H75. According to the Corsair site, they are compatible with the case but I wanted to see if anyone had any first hand experience with this combination of case and cooler.

The 2 fans on the H75 make it stick out more and i was wondering if that would be bad in any way for the motherboard components under it(I/O ports and a motherboard heatsink)?

Mainly, I would be switching from a hyper 212 evo for aesthetics and to make it easier to work with the motherboard. Would temperatures be comparable to the EVO?
 

kharma45

Member
An H60 should be no bother to fit, plenty of forum posts on it from a quick Google.

The 2013 revision of the H60 made it a good little AIO too.
 

Aiustis

Member
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($131.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $181.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-03 13:48 EST-0500

The ASUS LK is my main choice in that price range but I could only see an open box one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ignorebbr=1&cm_re=Z77-_-13-131-837R-_-Product

the Extreme4 isn't a perfect board, ASRock told some lies around it, but it's still far from a bad board. A hyper 212 would be a good buy too. Would let you overclock the motherboard.

Edit - this Biostar board is also good http://www.outletpc.com/zu3768-bios...ontent=Biostar+-+Motherboards > Intel LGA1155

Thanks! That's exactly what I'm looking for.
 

NoRéN

Member
An H60 should be no bother to fit, plenty of forum posts on it from a quick Google.

The 2013 revision of the H60 made it a good little AIO too.

Sounds good. Last questions: Does the H60 perform similar to the Hyper 212 EVO and would it be able to handle a modest overclock if i decided to do so in the future(4770k to maybe 4.0ghz)?
 

XBP

Member
Is it normal for cases to wrap/creak? Whenever I start my computer (cold boot) for the first 10-15 minutes of the boot, I hear these random creaking noises from various parts of the case. I can replicate this by pressing on the case on any parts that are connecting (e.g. side panel and front panel edge). Ive heard this noise come from my monitor as well sometimes.

Case is an Enthoo Luxe.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom