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

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Have you updated the bios?

Those xeons work with a lot of the x58 consumer motherboards, but you usually have to have a bios version that supports gulftown.
The fact that the last one bios update there explicitly supports another xeon is pretty promising.

Edit: msi does not seem to have those bioses in date order.. judging from the names, this is the latest one. 7522v39.zip

For some reason they list the Bios for both the X58 Platinum and the X58 Platinum SLI on the same page. All the 3.x version are not automatically detected by the bios flashing tool (M-Flash). Not sure if I should just try to force them or leave it. I asked MSI a question so I will see what they say.
 
So, the guy I had to check my PC told me that the PSU might be the culprit because the 12V line read 12.6volts, and I should change it.

But I'm reading that it's normal, or within the specification anyway.

What should I do?
 
Ok cool, thanks for that.

What are EVGA like? Always had MSI myself. I was going with that due to the referance design, which isn't really important, just looked cool.

I haven't bought EVGA myself, but they generally have a good reputation. I used to recommend the MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G model, but the EVGA GTX 970 SSC beats that MSI model, going by the paper specs.

So, the guy I had to check my PC told me that the PSU might be the culprit because the 12V line read 12.6volts, and I should change it.

But I'm reading that it's normal, or within the specification anyway.

What should I do?

Usually power supplies should have much better voltage regulation than that. Power supplies are usually given a failing mark by review sites like Jonny Guru if they ever stray that far from exactly 12.00V. It may be within specs, but it's still undesirable.

It is possible that your power supply may be failing and that's what's causing system instability. Which power supply do you have exactly? You said it was either a CX or TX model rated at 650 watts? Any idea if it's still under warranty?

HardOCP did a review of the CX750 and they gave it a failing mark, the chief reason being that it failed their tests when they ramped up load to 750 watts, and poor voltage regulation. In their tests, the voltage on the 12V rail changed by 0.16V at the most, and that was not considered good. Seeing as yours changed by 0.60 volts, that is even worse.
 
errrmmm, I think my tower case might be a bit iffy on setting up a modular PSU, seeing how large it is. I got a Corsair Carbide Air 540, and it has some metal fixtures on the psu place, for some reason, and I'm wondering if that will be a problem to setup a modular PSU on.



Are there any retailers you're looking at specifically? I remember looking through Portuguese retailers a couple of weeks ago for other people, and here's what I found at chiptec.net.
sure:
pcdiga pcdiga.com
novoatalho novoatalho.pt
global data http://www.globaldata.pt/
 
I built my first gaming pc a couple of weeks ago. Being a complete noob, I decided to overclock the gpu and cpu. Used GPU Tweak to get GTX 980 to 1450 boost clock (I think the base clock was 1349 Mhz?), and the memory to 7800 MHz. It's stable with no artifacts in Unigine benchmark, Alien vs Predator benchmark, and Firestrike. Temps were usually around 65-70 C, and the highest was 73 C at one point.

The cpu was easier as I just used the Asus 5 way optimization feature, it auto-overclocked the i7 5930K from 3.5 GHz to 4.3 GHz on all 6 cores. Ran Aida64, and it was stable. Firestrike was good as well. Played a couple of hours of games, and temps are mostly below 60 C.

I think the overclock went okay. Is there anything you guys can see that I may be able to improve on, or might have missed? I think my ram is still running at 2133MHz, when infact I have 32GB 2400MHz Ram. The XMP profile in the Bios was active I think, but I am not sure. The system is running okay, so I haven't bothered. Ram doesn't affect game fps that much, right?

Other than that, the system sometimes doesn't boot correctly, and has a cursor in the top left corner flashing and doesn't get to the windows logo screen. This was the case even before I overclocked. I usually reset the system a few times, and it boots. Anyone know what could be causing it?

Do it manually if you want to do it properly. Far Cry 4 and Crysis 3 are good to test GPU stability. Try RealBench for the CPU too.
And yes 2133Mhz DDR4 at CL 15 or whatever is probably giving a latency like 1333Mhz CAS 9 DDR3. And although it wouldnt have huge effect, its just pains me to see more expensive hardware running worse off than old stuff.

Possibly a USB device is causing a hang on boot, check the boot device order, just disable all boot drives except the boot drive.
 
So, the guy I had to check my PC told me that the PSU might be the culprit because the 12V line read 12.6volts, and I should change it.

But I'm reading that it's normal, or within the specification anyway.

What should I do?

Usually power supplies should have much better voltage regulation than that. Power supplies are usually given a failing mark by review sites like Jonny Guru if they ever stray that far from exactly 12.00V. It may be within specs, but it's still undesirable.

It is possible that your power supply may be failing and that's what's causing system instability. Which power supply do you have exactly? You said it was either a CX or TX model rated at 650 watts? Any idea if it's still under warranty?

HardOCP did a review of the CX750 and they gave it a failing mark, the chief reason being that it failed their tests when they ramped up load to 750 watts, and poor voltage regulation. In their tests, the voltage on the 12V rail changed by 0.16V at the most, and that was not considered good. Seeing as yours changed by 0.60 volts, that is even worse.

Thats a bit different to just the static voltage of the rail, they test the voltage differential, or if you like the steadiness of the votlage whilst under load, its actually oscillating up and down.

Its extremely unlikely the guy had an oscilloscope to measure this, and likely just used a multimeter to measure the voltage of the 12v pin to ground.

12.6v is within ATX spec, well the maximum allowed.

ATX standard tolerance is
+12VDC ± 5% +11.400 VDC +12.600 VDC

And if the guy did this with the PSU unloaded its probably going to have some voltage drop when in normal use.
 
Ok, I might have to get a nonmodular PSU, either that or try it out first, cause going by the dimensions I could find, the modular PSU's seem too large to fit on my case?! Especially since on the Carbide Air 540 has the psu needs to be sideways
 
Usually power supplies should have much better voltage regulation than that. Power supplies are usually given a failing mark by review sites like Jonny Guru if they ever stray that far from exactly 12.00V. It may be within specs, but it's still undesirable.

It is possible that your power supply may be failing and that's what's causing system instability. Which power supply do you have exactly? You said it was either a CX or TX model rated at 650 watts? Any idea if it's still under warranty?

HardOCP did a review of the CX750 and they gave it a failing mark, the chief reason being that it failed their tests when they ramped up load to 750 watts, and poor voltage regulation. In their tests, the voltage on the 12V rail changed by 0.16V at the most, and that was not considered good. Seeing as yours changed by 0.60 volts, that is even worse.

It's a TX650 80+ Bronze, and it's still under warranty, it's 5 years and the PS it's just about 3.5/4 years old.

Thats a bit different to just the static voltage of the rail, they test the voltage differential, or if you like the steadiness of the votlage whilst under load, its actually oscillating up and down.

Its extremely unlikely the guy had an oscilloscope to measure this, and likely just used a multimeter to measure the voltage of the 12v pin to ground.

12.6v is within ATX spec, well the maximum allowed.

ATX standard tolerance is
+12VDC ± 5% +11.400 VDC +12.600 VDC

And if the guy did this with the PSU unloaded its probably going to have some voltage drop when in normal use.

Yeah, if it's still in the "standard" they probably won't replace it.

So it might not the PSU? I mean, I find it strange... There were no electricity spikes lately at home, and I even have a UPS.
 
errrmmm, I think my tower case might be a bit iffy on setting up a modular PSU, seeing how large it is. I got a Corsair Carbide Air 540, and it has some metal fixtures on the psu place, for some reason, and I'm wondering if that will be a problem to setup a modular PSU on.

sure:
pcdiga pcdiga.com
novoatalho novoatalho.pt
global data http://www.globaldata.pt/

I don't see why the metal fixtures would be a problem. They appear to be movable metal supports for differing PSU length.

I looked through those links and there wasn't much else that was good. If you care more about higher wattage, Globaldata.pt has the XFX Core series 750 watt bronze model for €101,90.

If you want modularity as well, it looks like your best choice is this XFX XTR 650 watt model for €106,90 from chiptec.net, it's the cheapest one, although I'm not sure about shipping. Fully modular and gold rated. Globaldata.pt sells the same model for €108,90 while PCDiga.com has it for €110,90.

The only other decently priced model would be the XFX Pro Series 750 watt semi-modular model, it sells for about €112 from both Globaldata and PCDiga.
 
It's a TX650 80+ Bronze, and it's still under warranty, it's 5 years and the PS it's just about 3.5/4 years old.



Yeah, if it's still in the "standard" they probably won't replace it.

So it might not the PSU? I mean, I find it strange... There were no electricity spikes lately at home, and I even have a UPS.

Have you tried an older BIOS version?
 
I decided to let go of my evga sc 680 and give it to a caring home. Looking for $180 shipped via ups. Recently purchased a 980 and was going to use it in another build, but am going a different route. Pics or questions, feel free to pm me.
 
I haven't, no. I'm not even sure there is an older version of the bios to try, I never updated it. I can try a new one if there is.

Still, can the bios just get fucked up like that by itself? :lol

Yes it can lol happened to me before. But definitely update the BIOS if you havent, i assumed you had done that.
 
Try clearing out your graphics card drivers and reinstall them. Download the latest Nvidia drivers and Display Driver Uninstaller, use DDU (it'll handle a lot of things by itself like safe mode and rebooting), then install the latest drivers.
Thats a good shot, especially with DDU. When I got the card, I unloaded everything from the previous card, but worth a shot with a deep cleaner. Will do this later today!

If you think it's your power supply, then do any other games also trigger similar problems? Try Furmark, it's a graphics card stress tester and will strain your system a bit so you can see if you experience the same problems. I doubt it's the power supply, though. According to Guru3D, the GTX 680 (170 watts) and GTX 980 (190 watts) have similar power consumption (~20 watt difference) and PSU requirements (550 watts recommended for both).
I havent run Furmark, but I ran Firestrike when I first got the card and I had zero issues. The one other time I saw the issue however, I was playing Crysis 3 (to see how it ran) and it suddenly dumped me into a reboot. Extremely odd, it was about after 30min I wanna say.


So I looked in there, and I saw the following after both crashes:

Critical - Kernel-Power : Event ID 41 : Task Cat: (63)
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

Googling says its relatively vague, two other errors were:

EventLog Event ID: 6008 no task cat & volgmgr Event ID: 46 'Crash dump initialization failed'

I am a little stumped. I think what I am going to do is play it by ear for now. One thing I will do is make sure all the connections are tight. I may grab a 100$-ish newer PSU to test with - it could be that a 4+yr old power supply just isnt giving the full 650w anymore.

I appreciate anyone advice.
 
Can someone advice me a dual monitor arm?

I'm looking for something that could mount 2 27" displays and easily shift them horizontally so either left or right one would be in front of me.

Can be desk or wall mounted.
 
For some reason they list the Bios for both the X58 Platinum and the X58 Platinum SLI on the same page. All the 3.x version are not automatically detected by the bios flashing tool (M-Flash). Not sure if I should just try to force them or leave it. I asked MSI a question so I will see what they say.

So what bios are you currently on? 1.5?
 
Might not be the right place to ask but, I just realized that under the little safely remove hardware menu my SSD and HDD are listed. Is there anyway to remove them from it?
 
Every build I do has those. Luckily my 760t kit was only 50USD. Filters are a must for dust.
Good to know they're definitely high quality. It's expensive, but having a Reference Nvidia card (Blower Type) means my case would be effectively dust proof with this sort of kit.

You probably don't wanna buy them from FrozenCPU, considering the owner just went on on a bender and wrecked their warehouse. Also was caught in a DUI.
Yeah, I just read their latest news thing. What a dick. Sucks for FrozenCPU. :s
 
What's the best cleaning material/stuff for PC matte monitors (Dell U2412M in my case)?

I use a good microfiber cloth and distilled water. A good can of compressed air can sorta do the base work, then do slow buffing circles to clean the screen. Never press hard.
 
Alright GAF, I’m ready to make my first PC. Wanted to get some opinions before I start ordering things.


As per OP, here’s some BACKGROUND:

Budget: ~$1300 (US), ~$200 for Monitor

Main Use: Multi-genre gaming; not playing just high-graphic games. Never played things like Battlefield on high settings with 60 FPS, but if this can do it I wouldn’t mind giving it a spin. Gonna do occasional Photoshop and Illustrator, and Stream console game video into the PC for Twitch via my Elgato HD60. *IF* it can handle streaming a PC game on Twitch that would be cool, but if this can’t handle it then I’ll have to worry about that later.

Monitor Resolution: I’ve never played high-graphic games at 1080p, so I’ll more likely start with this, I think the monitor I’m looking at can do it, it’s listed in the parts.

When will you build?: I’d ideally like to order the parts in the next day or two. Once the parts come in, PC should be put together in a week.

Will you be overclocking?: No, I have friends that will help me make the computer since I’ve never done it before, so don’t have any desire to mess with parts since I couldn’t fix it myself. The last 4 years I’ve used an all-in-one for gaming and this new PC will be much stronger than what I’m used to already.


PART LIST

My part list is based on Haz’s PC Builds on the OP, from the ‘Excellent-Best Overall’ list.

I will be cross-checking sites for best prices, but for info sake I’ve listed the Newegg pages for each part.

CPU - Intel Core i5 - 4690K Devil’s Canyon Quad-Core 3.5 GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117372&cm_re=intel_core_i5_4690k-_-19-117-372-_-Product

Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128714&cm_re=gigabyte_ga-z97x-sli-_-13-128-714-_-Product

RAM - 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 SDRAM 1866
either this - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series (leaning toward this)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231528&cm_re=16gb_ram_1866-_-20-231-528-_-Product
OR
this - G.SKILL Ares Series
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=SKILL_Ares_Sries_16GB-_-20-231-560-_-Product

Graphics - EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB (not sure the difference between these two)
this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487076&cm_re=04g-p4-2974-kr-_-14-487-076-_-Product
OR
this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487088&cm_re=04g-p4-3975-kr-_-14-487-088-_-Product

SSD - Crucial MX100 512GB SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148821&cm_re=crucial_ssd_512gb-_-20-148-821-_-Product

Power Supply - EVGA Supernova 750W Gold
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G28N0668&cm_re=evga_supernova_750w_gold-_-17-438-017-_-Product

Fans/Heatsink - Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099&cm_re=Cooler_Master_Hyper_212_EVO-_-35-103-099-_-Product

Case - Corsair Air 240 Mid (preferred)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139044&cm_re=corsair_air_240-_-11-139-044-_-Product
OR
Phanteks Enthoo Pro Full
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811854003&cm_re=Phanteks_Enthoo_Pro-_-11-854-003-_-Product

Monitor - ASUS MX239H
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236310&cm_re=asus_mx239h-_-24-236-310-_-Product

OS - Windows 7


QUESTIONS:

The two graphics cards I’ve listed, I don’t know the difference between them?

Would the parts I have fit into the Corsair Air 240 case?

Do I need to get anything for static protection?

Does thermal paste come with the heatsink/fan?

Could I dual monitor in the future with this part set?

Are the ribs on the top of RAM just for show?

If I’m recording footage from my console, could I just save the video directly to an external drive through the computer so it doesn’t take up the space of my SSD?


Thanks.
 
QUESTIONS:

The two graphics cards I’ve listed, I don’t know the difference between them?

Would the parts I have fit into the Corsair Air 240 case?

Do I need to get anything for static protection?

Does thermal paste come with the heatsink/fan?

Could I dual monitor in the future with this part set?

Are the ribs on the top of RAM just for show?

If I’m recording footage from my console, could I just save the video directly to an external drive through the computer so it doesn’t take up the space of my SSD?

Thanks.

It seems like the latter video card has a slightly higher clock. For 10 bucks more, you may as well.

The motherboard you have is ATX form factor, so no, it wouldn't fit in the Air 240. You would need an mATX or smaller motherboard to use that case.

Unless your area is very dry, nah. Just touch something metal before you start working on your build.

Thermal paste is usually included with CPU coolers, and I believe the one you listed does come with it.

Yes, dual monitors would work just fine with that setup.

The ribs on the RAM are meant to guide the heat away, but honestly, if you have enough air flowing through your case, they aren't really needed. Unless they're overclocked to hell and back. (The ones you chose aren't)

Yes, as long as the recording software you're using allows you to set a destination for the video files.

So, all in all, you're going to have to find an mATX motherboard if you want to use the Air 240 case. Otherwise, you should be set!

Edit: Also, http://pcpartpicker.com/ will help you keep your parts organized while you pick out stuff. Plus, it gives you a warning if you pick anything that isn't compatible. You might find it helpful.
 
The motherboard you have is ATX form factor, so no, it wouldn't fit in the Air 240. You would need an mATX or smaller motherboard to use that case.

So, all in all, you're going to have to find an mATX motherboard if you want to use the Air 240 case. Otherwise, you should be set!

First off, thank you very much for the input.

Secondly, do you have a recommendation for a mATX motherboard that would suit the parts I selected? I''m gonna glance at what mATX's are out there in just a minute.


Some monitors within your budget you should check out.

Ok thanks!
 
First off, thank you very much for the input.

Secondly, do you have a recommendation for a mATX motherboard that would suit the parts I selected? I''m gonna glance at what mATX's are out there in just a minute.

No problem!

If you're strictly looking for something like you have, but just smaller, this should do just fine. I just looked it up really quick, so you may be able to find something cheaper.
 
If you're strictly looking for something like you have, but just smaller, this should do just fine. I just looked it up really quick, so you may be able to find something cheaper.

I'll certainly look at a few mATX motherboards, but having one to start with like the one you chose makes me feel more comfortable than just searching alone. I'll save that one in case I don't find other options. Thank you again.
 
Ok, I might have to get a nonmodular PSU, either that or try it out first, cause going by the dimensions I could find, the modular PSU's seem too large to fit on my case?! Especially since on the Carbide Air 540 has the psu needs to be sideways

No that bit of metal on the base where the PSU is supposed to be placed is meant to buttress the back of your PSU. It slides back and forth when you unscrew it so that it will fit pretty much any PSU. Slide it right out the way, insert your PSU and then slide it back tight to the back of your PSU so that it is seated.
 
Out of curiosity I looked up how much I spent on my current computer back in 2011.

2500K ~ around $200 CAD (don't remember)
16GB DDR3 ~ $80
Mobo ~ $120? Don't remember
Radeon 6950 2GB ~ $275 (unlocked it to a 6970)

4 years on now and it's still doing well. Kind of crazy. Less than $700 and all it needs for another couple years is an upgraded GPU.
 
I'm getting into capturing and editing game footage as a hobby. Just looking to do it on a small YouTube channel in my free time but I do care about having a good quality about it. I already have both a Elgato HD and Elgato HD60 from capturing some test footage before, but I really would like to take the next step. Here is my current computer setup:

Alienware M14xR1
  • Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit Service Pack 1
  • 2nd Generation Intel Core i7
  • 2670QM CPU @ 2.20GHz
  • 1600x900 display 14.1”
  • 8GB DDR3 1330 Mhz
  • 500GB
  • Nvidia GeForce GT 555M
  • Realtek ALC665 High-Definition
  • DVD+/-RW 8x SATA


Is this setup good enough to get the job done? I am somewhat interested in Mac, but I'm not sure where in the Mac line I should be looking for this. Any help would be appreciated.
 
Okay, so here's my current build: It now has the MSI motherboard (the ASRock motherboard is actually more expensive before MIR) and the case is currently a Thermaltake V21 (or possibly a Thermaltake S1 if I get to read through more reviews).

No video card since GTX 960 is still somewhat backordered in Canada, so I'll wait until it gets a formal release up here. No more networking card either.

I'm still waffling about the PSU though.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790S 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($329.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: MSI H97M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.16 @ DirectCanada)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($134.14)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($66.95 @ Vuugo)
Case: Thermaltake Core V21 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($70.21 @ DirectCanada)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $725.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-23 15:03 EDT-0400
 
All of my want.

LL


LL


LL


Courtesy of 090517 @ Overclock.net.

Absolutely gorgeous.
 
Is there anyone who can give me an opinion on the BenQ XL2420G?

Choosing a monitor is so hard these days. BenQ, why don't you release a 1440p G-Sync one with multiple connectivity? :( Only thing not making me jump on the Rog Swift.
 
Well, i found this geekbench of a guy running an x5650 with the sli motherboard using bios version 3.9.

So it is definitely possible on that, the question is if that 3.9 bios will work with your non-sli variant.

I found that when I was looking initially and just thought it would work.
It seems like the non-sli and the sli variants are very similar so I will wait for their reply. From research it seems like it might work but I didn't find anything solid.
Thanks for all the help.
 
Okay then, what would you recommend around that same price?

I'm a big fan of Dell's IPS monitors. The P2314H and U2412M seem to be in your price range and as an owner of the former, I love it. They have the additional side benefit of being able to OC to 74hz when connected via DisplayPort which is small but welcomed.

If you're willing to forego IPS's superior colours, take a look at the BenQ's in the same bracket.
 
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