Right, but I'm not seeing a menu or option for that. In Disk Management there is no "Format" option anywhere after I select this drive.
I chose to make it MBR when given the option of that or GPT. Do I create "New Simple Volume" first?
Hey guys, I'll get straight to it. I'd like to keep my upgrades under $300, max $400 if necessary.
Current PC (using AIDA64 to get this info, as I built it about 3 or 4 years ago, replaced a few parts, don't remember it all offhand):
I don't have any SSD's, though I would definitely love to get one.
- Processor: QuadCore Intel Core i5-750, 3466 MHz (24 x 144)
- Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 (2 PCI, 2 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR3 DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)
- Video card: AMD Radeon HD 7870
- RAM: (Two sticks, 4 GB total) G Skill F3-10666CL8-2GBRM 2 GB DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM
I would like to be able to play newer games coming out on high settings, if not maxed out, specifically, Evolve. I had a large amount of stuttering on anything but Low settings for it during the Big Alpha.
I would also like to be able to smoothly stream on Twitch or Hitbox. My internet connection can definitely handle it, so it's just down to my hardware.
Now, would an SSD drive and more RAM suffice? Should I look at a new processor? I got the video card a year ago or so, so that should be okay, right?
Any help or guidance would be extremely appreciated! Thanks!
Quoting for new page, would love some feedback! Particularly on the processor.
Hey guys, would a Noctua NF-P12 be a significant improvement over the stock cooler for a Hyper 212 Evo? Newegg has a stupid good deal for them right now and I've been looking for an opportunity to change out the kind of crappy stock fan that Evo shipped with.
I know the NF-F12 would be a definite upgrade over the stock 212 Evo fan, but I'm willing to bite on a lesser Noctua fan if it's a big enough improvement. I just need to know if it is, because on paper, the stock fan with its higher RPM has better CFM than the Noctua, but CFM isn't the end all, be all of fan specs.I actually replaced my Evo fan with a NF-F12, after the bearings on the original went to shit. It's a bit louder than the stock fan, but since it didn't make a terrible grinding noise, technically an improvement.
What will she be using the computer for? Games? Worried about wanting to play on high/ultra settings?
The i5 750 is pretty dated - I'm running on pretty much the same hardware. Overclocking that processor will help, but it won't give you the performance of a stock i5 4690K, I think. It's hard to find directly comparable benchmarks for gaming performance.
However.. in games I think the difference won't be too great, I don't think the CPU will be that much of a bottleneck. The i5 2500K is still very serviceable and that was the model that superceded the i5 750, both being quad cores and priced comparatively similarly.
Nothing much is known about how great next year's coming processors will be. There's Broadwell K unlocked processors coming for the current 1150 socket, and Skylake which will be locked and appearing on new socket 1151 Z170/H170 motherboards. It's safe to say that they'll be an improvement over the existing Haswell processors, that's all that I can say.
I think it comes down to how much you want to spend and what your budget is. If you're wary of spending any kind of money, try overclocking first - you should be able to get a decent overclock out of that CPU cooler. I managed 4.2 GHz stable on my i5 750 with the exact same cooler as yours.
If want to spend a bit, you can get the RAM and graphics cards upgrades now. Try them out with the current processor overclocked. If that isn't enough, you can get a new motherboard and CPU and then just move the RAM and graphics card over, as it's all compatible.
Hey, just noticed the Area 88 avatar. Nice.
Hey guys, what's the best way to determine how big a PSU I need is?
This is the PSU I've got:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FG9FWF8/
And my build has:
Intel Core i7 4790K
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970
Corsair CML16GX3M2A1600C9 Vengeance Low Profile 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 Mhz
Asus Z97-PRO WI-FI AC ATX Motherboard
Crucial CT512MX100SSD1 512GB MX100
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (120mm)
Samsung 24x Retail SATA DVD Writer
Unfortunately, the terminology is pretty confusing. I believe the wording on the boxes of motherboards that support the latest Haswell processors say "new 4th generation Intel Core processors", and that's mostly for H97/Z97 motherboards.Kinda late reply (from me, sorry). I guess I'm still having difficulties because I can't find F12, F13, or F14. All it shows about BIOS is that it's an "exclusive UEFI DualBIOS design". And for CPU Support it shows "4th generation Intel Core processors" don't know if they mean the new ones.
My CPU is overheating.
My PC wasn't originally built for gaming, the mobo is a budget microATX Intel one and an i5-2500 with stock cooler.
Now I got a GTX 970, new PSU and case. And suddenly I'm getting popup warnings from Intel Desktop Utilities that my CPU is reaching 88c+ in games.
I guess I need to buy an aftermarket cooler? But until I do that I figured I should rearrange things to try to improve air flow in the case, and maybe clean dust from the CPU heatsinks. But do I need to reapply thermal paste if I remove the fan? Cause I don't have any right now.
Well, it's not overheating or anything.Fuuuuck. MB was what failed on my last PC. How would one test for mb failure? Just rule out everything else?
What do you mean "check sata mode"?
i5 4670 stock
Gigabyte H87 mini itx mobo
2x8gb ddr3 1600 ram
512gb ssd + 3tb hdd
GTX 970
650w PSU
In uefi cpu is 40c or so.
So I thought I might ask here in case anyone has seen this before. I have a PC with an AMD 290x inside connected to an Hdmi switcher. Since hooking it up, I have noticed on occasion some slight artifacts like white snow in small portions of the screen. When this happens most of the time I can simply turn the tv(not pc) off and back on and they go away.
Then two days ago I take my PC out of sleep mode and literally it's like hell is breaking loose. I keep getting an error message stating that the display adapter has failed and there are now artifacts all over the screen. I thought for sure it was the video card, but checked temps and the highest temp was 44. Even after rebooting same artifacts.
So then I decide as a last ditch I would take the switcher off and run straight to the tv. I restarted the computer and it's like nothing ever happened. Its been fine for a few days leading me to believe it was the switcher or cable, but typically seeing that kind of stuff makes me think the card is the culprit. To compound matters I was planning on selling the card soon to buy an nvidia 970 or 980 but I don't want to sell someone a busted card.
Two questions: has anyone seen that happen with a bad cable or switch or is it more likely to be the card even though it stopped showing artifacts? And when I buy a card assuming I can afford both, is a 970 comparable to the 290x or should I buy the 980 for similar performance at 1080p?Not planning on 4k anytime soon.
Thanks!
RGM79 thanks again for the advice earlier. Just ordered the PSU and Asus PA238Q monitor saw it on amazon warehousedeals for £153 said I might as well bite don't mind the lost on warranty. Can't wait to get me system built soon
Need advice- is it safe to use multiple powered external drives (Seagate Backup Plus) with a powered USB hub? I think the ports on my case are faulty. I'm considering this hub (any recommendations would be welcome) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E6GX4BG/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Build will start at the end of next week when the mobo is released.
Gigabyte GA-X99M-Gaming 5
Haswell-E 5820k
Crucial Ballistx 16GB DDR4
Corsair 240 Air
2x 970 or 980's don't know yet.
Crucial MX1000 512gb SSD
3TB WD Black HDD
Corsair H100i CPU cooler.
EVGA 1000 G2 PSU
Quoting for new page, would love some feedback! Particularly on the processor.
Just got back to a keyboard, thanks for the reply. I think she's going to wait and do a pretty big upgrade after Skylake. I know high/ultra settings are going to be a priority for her as she spends most of her gaming time on PC, and she's been burned on the incremental upgrade before.
I suck, *suck* at schmups, but I loved U.N. Squadron so much as a kid. Soundtrack pops into my head still, 20 years after I last had a SNES.
Hey guys, what's the best way to determine how big a PSU I need is?
This is the PSU I've got:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FG9FWF8/
And my build has:
Intel Core i7 4790K
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970
Corsair CML16GX3M2A1600C9 Vengeance Low Profile 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 Mhz
Asus Z97-PRO WI-FI AC ATX Motherboard
Crucial CT512MX100SSD1 512GB MX100
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (120mm)
Samsung 24x Retail SATA DVD Writer
Everything is going fine aside form my goddamn XFX r9 280 not even registering to my computer as having existed. Makes me think I should have just fucking bought a more expensive card.
Quoting for new page, would love some feedback! Particularly on the processor.
Get a 970.
I have a similar processor to yours. I don't think you should see any stuttering, but I haven't played Evolve. If you have a decent CPU cooler, you should be able to overclock up to 4.2GHz if the CPU is your problem. Do you have stuttering in any other game? Try turning down settings.
Your CPU meets the requirements for Evolve, but your graphics card is a bit low, although still in the middle of the minimum and recommended specs. If you intend to play on high settings, you'll likely need a better graphics card.
Your best bet is a new video card. That will be the only improvement for 300-400 that will make any appreciable difference in gaming performance.
970 is the best price to performance card right now and easily twice as powerful as your 7850.
You could also use another 4 gigs of ram. I generally see 5-6gigs of my 8 system consumed during gaming.
An SSD would be the least impactful gaming upgrade.
Make sure your graphics card is slotted in all the way. I had one out of two of my R9 270X cards not even be detected because it wasn't plugged in properly, there was ~5mm left to go.
PCI-E power cables plugged in? It needs an 8 pin and a 6 pin power cable.
Well, it's not overheating or anything.
In the UEFI menu, there's often settings to change how the SATA controller works. Usually there's the option of AHCI or IDE. AHCI is newer mode that runs faster, IDE is older mode that has better compatibility with older OS like XP. Neither mode should cause your PC to act the way it does, assuming the motherboard isn't broken in some way.
The only thing I know to check a motherboard for is bulging or blown capacitors. That's usually a sign of motherboard death for old motherboards that have seen a lot of use and are worn out. You computer isn't that old, though.
Coming from 2x 27 inch monitors, I'd thought I'd hate it but it's not bad. Most games such the native resolution and those that don't you just have two black bars which isn't that bad off. Sadly those games that don't support the resolution end up being stretched.
Productivity-wise, it's a lot better. No bezels in my way and using the Windows key + arrows, I can especially move windows to either side and it makes a world of difference. I have zero plans of going back to 2x monitors and I've been using this monitors for 2 weeks now.
SSD would be the least? Seriously? Wow. Okay then, I guess the first thing I'll get is the video card. Thank you!
Yeah, I think I've done all of this right. I dunno what the problem is. I checked the power, intalled new drivers for my MOBO... I'm running out of ideas.
SSD would be the least? Seriously? Wow. Okay then, I guess the first thing I'll get is the video card. Thank you!
Thanks. I've never had any luck overclocking this processor, though admittedly I'm not 100% sure I'm following the proper process. I guess I'll look into a guide for it and see what I can do. Using the stock HS and fan, though. I can run most games at medium-high with 45+ fps, but Evolve was just downright unplayable at those settings. Granted, it was an alpha, but still.
SSD would be the least? Seriously? Wow. Okay then, I guess the first thing I'll get is the video card. Thank you!
Yeah, I think I've done all of this right. I dunno what the problem is. I checked the power, intalled new drivers for my MOBO... I'm running out of ideas.
Yeah no kidding, the whole thing is <2 years old. I'm going to try checking the Sata connections on the Mobo to make sure the cables are in right and such. Would there be any good way of telling whether or not the cables might be at fault without having a spare to swap?
It's only a 10 dollar part probably but I'd have to ride into town to get it.
Within six weeks I should get the i7 4790k and then in the middle of January the 970 will be mines, might just go to micro center to pick that up, is there any special shit I should do when switching my cpu and gpu
For changing the CPU? Nothing is required. Maybe pick up some thermal paste if you don't already have it, but that's not required if you're just using the stock Intel CPU cooler which already has thermal paste pre-applied.
For changing the graphics card, it's recommended to use Display Driver Uninstaller to remove any chance of old driver and software conflicts. It's easy to use, the program is essentially guided. Just download the new drivers, run DDU to remove the old drivers, take out the old graphics card, put in the new one, and then install the new drivers.
You won't get any good results trying to overclock with the stock Intel cooler, I'm afraid. You'll need to invest $30 or so into a budget CPU cooler.
Yeah.. SSDs have massive read/write speed benefits, but they don't actually improve framerate. Once the game is loaded into memory, it's up to the processor and graphics card to work on framerate.
SSD is a nice quality of life thing, but really does nothing for games outside of loading times. I don't even put games on my SSD unless the loading times are annoying.
Thanks all! Before posting this I was very close to grabbing an SSD. Glad I can put that on the backburner for now!SSD will make ur games load much faster. But I don't think that's your main priority
Thanks all! Before posting this I was very close to grabbing an SSD. Glad I can put that on the backburner for now!
I've only known SATA cables to break on the connector. Your motherboard should have come with at least two SATA cables in the box, possibly more. You're sure you have no spares?
Run the OCCT GPU test with Error Check enabled to test the GPU for artifacting. This could be either a GPU memory failure or a HDCP issue with the HDMI Switcher. Could also be a bad quality cable, insufficient bandwidth possibly if the cable is of considerable length 5m+.
Oddly enough a mate had a similar issue with a particular version of nVidia drivers on his GTX 760, so try a different AMD Driver version with the switch attached.
I've seen graphics cards have artifact-ed output that was fixed by not using adaptors or by using different outputs.
Have you tried using the switch with something else (a game console and TV with HDMI) to see if it's the switch introducing graphical artifacting?
I have no idea. Best leave that hard drive unplugged. Back it up if you can, and run CrystalDiskInfo to read the SMART data off it, it might be dying.Ok I had 2 6gb/s cables. Plugged them in to replace the existing ones... still boots slowly.
Fark.
At least this latest install seems stable so far... I guess.
Going to try unplugging the HDD to see if that's a theoretical problem.
Edit: OMG IT IS RESPONSIVE NOW.
What the fuck?
Could it be trying to boot from that and lagging? How could a formatted HDD cause this?
I'm a fucking idiot. The connector from the GPU to th power supply (not the part connected to the card) wasn't plugged all the way in. Wife is playing GoT as we speak.
The AMD Catalyst software had a lot of graphical options... I'll have to research something
I have no idea. Best leave that hard drive unplugged. Back it up if you can, and run CrystalDiskInfo to read the SMART data off it, it might be dying.
I got a new SSD (240GB Crucial M500) and I want to transfer everything on my 500GB HDD to it, including the OS. The HDD is only using 220GB now so it should defnitely fit after I move my pictures to an external. What is the best method of doing this?
Correct me if I'm wrong but an ssd advertised as 240 will not have 240 will it? Is cloning from a hdd to an ssd smart? What with fragmentation and all on the original
Ok, time for final tweaks since I'm going to be ordering the parts on Monday,
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£167.50 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 7 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£119.96 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston Savage 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory (£123.99 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£122.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Toshiba 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£52.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£265.95 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Enforcer ATX Mid Tower Case (£62.87 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£87.60 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer (£11.89 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£72.35 @ Aria PC)
Total: £1088.04
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Any further recommendations on the hardware side of things?
In terms of the 970 which is generally considered to be the best one to go for?
Case Fractal Design R4
Motherboard MSI H97 Guard-Pro
CPU Intel Core i5-4460
CPU Fan Gelid Solutions Tranquillo Rev.2
Graphics card Asus STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5
RAM Crucial Ballistix Tactical BLT2C4G3D1608ET3LX0CEU (2x4GB)
SSD Crucial MX100 256GB
HDD WD Blue WD10EZEX, 1TB
Power supply Seasonic M12II Evo 520W
Been a long, long, time since I've done any "real" PC gaming and as my laptop is ever so slowly inching towards its grave it's time to upgrade to a desktop.
As such I currently got the following list.
Code:Case Fractal Design R4 Motherboard MSI H97 Guard-Pro CPU Intel Core i5-4460 CPU Fan Gelid Solutions Tranquillo Rev.2 Graphics card Asus STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5 RAM Crucial Ballistix Tactical BLT2C4G3D1608ET3LX0CEU (2x4GB) SSD Crucial MX100 256GB HDD WD Blue WD10EZEX, 1TB Power supply Seasonic M12II Evo 520W
Yes? No? Any changes I should consider before breaking open the piggy bank? I'm not really interested into overclocking so I kept it non-K but I would like some sweet 1080p action at high settings for at least the coming 3 years. You guys think this is enough to achieve that?
If recommending stuff, do consider that I'm from the Netherlands so awesome deals on sites like Amazon and Newegg can get less so when considering shipping costs.
Damn Americans for inventing Black Friday sales and the Europeans for copying it. Because of them I now have a new monitor...
Now I am thinking of a second 980, but for now I think one will do.
In some games GSync feels strange though. Like, if I move the camera it looks like the game runs in low fps instead of the 70 fps it actually runs.
Been a long, long, time since I've done any "real" PC gaming and as my laptop is ever so slowly inching towards its grave it's time to upgrade to a desktop.
As such I currently got the following list.
Code:Case Fractal Design R4 Motherboard MSI H97 Guard-Pro CPU Intel Core i5-4460 CPU Fan Gelid Solutions Tranquillo Rev.2 Graphics card Asus STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5 RAM Crucial Ballistix Tactical BLT2C4G3D1608ET3LX0CEU (2x4GB) SSD Crucial MX100 256GB HDD WD Blue WD10EZEX, 1TB Power supply Seasonic M12II Evo 520W
Yes? No? Any changes I should consider before breaking open the piggy bank? I'm not really interested into overclocking so I kept it non-K but I would like some sweet 1080p action at high settings for at least the coming 3 years. You guys think this is enough to achieve that?
If recommending stuff, do consider that I'm from the Netherlands so awesome deals on sites like Amazon and Newegg can get less so when considering shipping costs.
This isn't normal. What games? Are you sure G-Sync mode is active? The monitor's status led will be red in G-Sync mode. Also ensure VSync is disabled in the game.
What sites do you use? What's the budget? Consider going mitx or matx? I tend not to recommend the Asus 970 since asus used the lowest internal clocks (hidden) compared to the competition.
Sorry, I'm not familiar with computer parts retailers in the Netherlands. Thank you for informing us, though. Is there a certain store that you think you'll do most of your parts shopping from? What's your budget?