"I Need a New PC!" 2015 Part 1. Read the OP and RISE ABOVE FORGED PRECISION SCIENCE
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Any thoughts on the monitor debate?
Given the power level of my gpu and cpu, does it even make sense to shoot for 4k or 1440p? Should I wait till the backordered Acer comes in, grab one of the monitors from the OP, or wait for newer stuff later this year?
My current monitor is a old dell 22 inch 1650 x 1080 monitor, so I think anything I get is going to be a pretty sizable upgrade.
Given the power level of my gpu and cpu, does it even make sense to shoot for 4k or 1440p? Should I wait till the backordered Acer comes in, grab one of the monitors from the OP, or wait for newer stuff later this year?
My current monitor is a old dell 22 inch 1650 x 1080 monitor, so I think anything I get is going to be a pretty sizable upgrade.
Sorry for quoting myself, just don't want to be lost on the last page
Anything beyond the 4690k, for gaming at least, you quickly start to hit expensive CPUs with diminishing returns, so that's a very good choice of upgrade. I would recommend getting a motherboard with the newer Z97 chipset, though.
Edit: Oh, I see you picked the non-overclockable 4690, actually. That's fine as well, but I'd rather pay a little more to keep options open, personally.
Fantastapotamus
Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
So for example as ASRock Z97 Anniversary? I really have NO idea what to look for
Yeah, that should do. Really, with motherboards, just look for whatever has the ports/features that you want. Outside of that, you're not really going to notice much of a difference.
An1malhouse365
Neo Member
I haven't the slightest idea on what I'm doing here. first timer here. Doing lots of reading.
Trying to build a gaming PC. I want to run triple dell U2414 (already have one) and would like the eye candy.
Anywhere I can cut costs and invest somewhere else? It wont be all my gaming as i'm still on consoles but would like something nice and not out of this world. ~$1000 if possible
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DvV3kL
Trying to build a gaming PC. I want to run triple dell U2414 (already have one) and would like the eye candy.
Anywhere I can cut costs and invest somewhere else? It wont be all my gaming as i'm still on consoles but would like something nice and not out of this world. ~$1000 if possible
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DvV3kL
Dreams-Visions
Member
970 and there's no reason to be torn about it.
Fantastapotamus
Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
Excellent, just wanted to make sure. Any specific brand you suggest? I always been an MSI man myself.
Your build doesn't have a motherboard? Also, you'll need DDR4 if you go with the 5820k.
I'd suggest starting with the "Great -best value" build in the OP, and go from there.
An1malhouse365
Neo Member
I left out the motherboard as I didn't know how to go about picking one. But I'll take a look and try from there.
Start by picking your CPU in pcpartpicker. pcpartpicker will then only show you motherboards that have the correct socket for that CPU. When you have picked the mobo, it'll only show you RAM that is compatible with the mobo. Choose the PSU last, because it will also show you an estimated power consumption.
MSI 4G is great(Have one myself) has the slient mode where the fans don't spin until GPU temps are about 60c iirc. Although some Evga models, Asus also have the same feature. Go with the cheapest and best clocked one you can find.
finalflame
Banned
For what? Are you using applications that take advantage of multithreading? Are you just gaming?
Gaming: no, single core performance is more important and most games cannot take advantage of HT.
Applications that specifically use HT/Intensive multitasking: Sure.
We'll, I game a lot but I also work with it but nothing too extensive.
finalflame
Banned
I'd keep the higher clocks and not worry about HT. Hyper Threading is only really useful when you're doing a lot of multitasking or using applications that were design with HT in mind.
If you're going to reuse the same product key that you already have on your current PC, then yes, you still need to go through the process of manually activating Windows. Reinstalling Windows has no affect on whether or not activation works.
The thing is, the product key is tied to whatever computer hardware it was activated on. Changing motherboard and processor and so on is almost the same thing as Microsoft thinking you're trying to activate Windows using the same product key on a second PC (they can't easily tell, of course, as far as they can tell it's a different PC that you're trying to use a previously active key with) so you will most likely have to talk with and have Microsoft support help you activate Windows.
The i5 750 is now just a bit too long in the tooth and it isn't as good as the venerable i5 2500K. If you are willing to overclock it, it wouldn't be that big of a bottleneck with the i5 750, although by comparison the 2500K would see slightly higher framerate, I think.
Why a GTX 980, I wonder?
Sup guys, I've needed to post in here for a while, but I kept putting it off (oops).
I wanted to ask for some advice.
Current specs and software
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
Intel Core i7 2600K @ 3.40GHz:
Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. Z68XP-UD3 (Socket 1155)
1023MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti (EVGA):
Currently I enjoy playing games on "higher-than-average" settings, going above 60fps isn't a priority for me nor is massive downsampling (doing it from double the resolution of a game is fine).
That being said to keep my setup relevant in the future, would you advise me to upgrade my graphics card to a higher model (I was thinking GTX 970, but I don't know if I should wait for a deal of some sort) or to overclock my i7 (something I haven't done yet)?
I wanted to ask for some advice.
Current specs and software
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
Intel Core i7 2600K @ 3.40GHz:
Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. Z68XP-UD3 (Socket 1155)
1023MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti (EVGA):
Currently I enjoy playing games on "higher-than-average" settings, going above 60fps isn't a priority for me nor is massive downsampling (doing it from double the resolution of a game is fine).
That being said to keep my setup relevant in the future, would you advise me to upgrade my graphics card to a higher model (I was thinking GTX 970, but I don't know if I should wait for a deal of some sort) or to overclock my i7 (something I haven't done yet)?
Damn Titan X seems to be sold out everywhere. It's on Ebay with ridiculous markups of course and I certainly won't be buying two of them at that price. I was hoping to get everything together for my build this week but the the GPU sold out on Amazon sometime yesterday.
Thanks for all the tips on motherboard, ram, coolers, etc. I'm really looking forward to putting this together.
It's available direct from Nvidia
http://www.geforce.com/geforce-gtx-titan-x/buy-gpu
Where I and others got ours on launch
The 970 has the 3.5GB VRAM debacle
Sure, but the benchmarks don't lie yo.
I mean... it's a fine GPU just as long as you are aware of the weird VRAM allocation.
Totally aware, although my 770 has the full 4gb!
Both options will help you achieve a framerate of 60 at higher settings. What cooler, case, and power supply do you have? That will determine overclocking and graphics card support.
You need to have the 2600k to OC.
Yeah, thats the one, left off the K !!
http://lifehacker.com/a-beginners-introduction-to-overclocking-your-intel-pr-5580998
in short you can start with adjusting the cpu ratio (ex 42 = 4.2ghz, 45 = 4.5ghz etc).
Change your voltage to manual and about 1.3v.
Can use Prime95 to test if your OC is stable. Let it run for some time. If it doesn't crash continue raising the cpu ratio, or lower the voltage (.01 increments) and try again to try and establish a baseline vcore. If it crashes try raising the voltage in .01 increments. Rinse repeat until you get to a stable OC.
Once you find that then you can move into more advanced settings like offset voltage etc.
What kind of CPU cooler do you have?
LostMyNarbles
Member
This is probably a stupid question, but can anyone tell me if this CPU looks normal? I'm taking apart my tower and when I took the CPU out I didn't think this looked right, but wasn't sure what it would mean/could be wrong.
http://postimg.org/image/ex4i5etut/
http://postimg.org/image/ex4i5etut/
It's just thermal paste on the CPU from your cooler. Unless I am missing something.
I have a pretty big case, Cooler Master. Lots of space to work with. Has lots of fans for ventilation, I get good temps on all my stuff (just recently dusted the interior, I never had any temperature alerts or problems with games I've stress tested, but they were old games I downsampled from 2x the resolution at 60fps).
My cooler is a non-standard one, I can't see the model from here, but I got it two years ago. All I can tell is that it's a really big heatsink lol.
My power supply is a 750W one that's lasted me since 2009.
Reason why I'm asking is because I tried playing some games like Killing Floor 2 at 1080p with lots of settings turned on "High", which is my M.O. for games, but I got framerate problems. Same thing happened with Far Cry 4 and to a lesser extent Dark Souls 1.
Just looked, its big and black (!), Corsair is the only wording on it.
I can't seem to find a GTX 970 for under 400$ CAN, is that right? What's the difference in performance between a 960 and 970? Can a 960 run current games good enough at high settings, even if its not smooth 60 FPS? The price is much more appealing than 970.
Just been into my bios to have a look, theres an OC Tuner option, I turned it on, my PC restarted a few times, went back into the bios and it now says 'all cores target cpu turbo-mode speed 4386MHz' and my 'by all core' number has been amended from the stock 34 to 43. That can't be all there is to it surely?
Well, the GTX 970 for $400+ is normal retail Canadian pricing. There's quite a big performance difference between the GTX 960 and 970, although the GTX 960 will adequately handle 1080p gaming now. There is some concern that the GTX 960 won't be effective for 1080p gaming in the long term due to 2GB VRAM and the small memory bus. Games are starting to go over 2GB in VRAM usage at 1080p, and the GTX 960 4GB models are expensive (over $300) and I'm not sure about the performance increase if there is any.
Alternative graphics cards in that price range would be the R9 290, like this Asus DirectCU II model for $320 after $30 rebate. The R9 290 offers performance close to the GTX 970 while costing a fair bit less. Where in Canada are you? If you're in BC's lower mainland, there's deals on open box R9 290 cards ($230~300 no rebate needed) from the local NCIX clearance outlet.
A lot of motherboard manufacturers include automated overclocking features, but if you want to get the most out of overclocking, it's recommended to read up and try some manual settings. You could get up to 4.5GHz and even higher, although I'll admit 4.3GHz isn't bad.
Sometimes automatic overclocking features don't properly apply voltage, though. Tell us what your motherboard tuner settings look like (or take a photo?) and try some stress testing to see if your PC is stable.
There's a lot of useful information about overclocking here, including guides and settings and user experience.
Yes that is it.
A lot of motherboards have software that will auto OC for you as you just experienced. You might want to check voltage and other changes made and make note. Some times the auto OC feature use more voltage than is necessary for the OC.
I'm looking at my system information (in control panel) and it still states 3.4GHz. I've downloaded CPU-Z and run it and i'm baffled by multipliers!!! It too lists my processor as i7-2600K CPU @3.40GHz, underneath it says core speed 1631.70MHz and multiplier x16.0 (16-63). What does this all mean?!
And many thanks for the help btw.
Auto OC can be totally unstable too.
It's at 1600mhz since the cpu clocks down when idle. The multiplier range is 16-63 as its unlocked. The max multiplier you can manually set is 63 for 6.3Ghz.
When you run prime95 the clock speed will increase to the multiplier set in bios.
I see, so doing a stress test should bump my CPU up to its max of 4.3GHz (as that what its set to in BIOS)?
I've tried to go back into my BIOS to take some numbers down, but now I no longer get the screen where it says 'press del to enter BIOS' and I can't get in!! Computers, don't ya just love 'em!
Edit: I can get back into BIOS now! Tried Prime95 and got a BSOD!
EatinOlives
Member
Is there anywhere I can find a "chart" or timeline or something regarding the CPUs that have been released since 2010?
I have an i5-750, which is aging considerably but I don't want to dump a ton of money on a bleeding edge system, I'd like to be a little more sensible and get an upper-mid-rage CPU. The thing is at this point all the Intel CPU names tell me nothing about how old they are or what "generation" they were released in. It's not like nVidia GPUs where I know that a 9xx card is two generations ahead of 7xx cards.
I have an i5-750, which is aging considerably but I don't want to dump a ton of money on a bleeding edge system, I'd like to be a little more sensible and get an upper-mid-rage CPU. The thing is at this point all the Intel CPU names tell me nothing about how old they are or what "generation" they were released in. It's not like nVidia GPUs where I know that a 9xx card is two generations ahead of 7xx cards.
The names tell you exactly the generations
Your 750 is first Gen. 2xxx is 2nd Gen, 3xxx is third Gen, 4xxx is... Do you see where it is going?
But, since the 2xxx Gen really only the k models are worth buying for gaming. So even though there are 10 or more models, it narrows down to just the 2500k 2600k, 3570k 3770k, 4690k, 4790k, etc.
The other thing to pay attention to is the socket. 1156, 1155, 1150 are the consumer socket that you want. 2011 is the enthusiast socket for crazy expensive rigs. Then in a motherboard it has gotten even easier. You want a Z series board. So Z77, Z97, etc.
To be current, simply out you want any z97 board with a 4690k cpu.
Or you could have read the OP
Well, the old socket 1156 motherboard you have is already outdated and discontinued, it won't accept any current generation processors. You will need to get a new motherboard along with a new processor, so to simplify things here are your options:
1. If you want to buy now, what you want is the i5 4690K and a Z97 motherboard. That's the current mid-range best bang for buck option, and costs about $300 or more (only $250 if you can score a local Microcentre in-store CPU and motherboard bundle).
2. If you will be buying within the next six months, Intel will be releasing their new Broadwell processors in that time period, which will be compatible with existing Z97 motherboards. You will want the midrange i5 processor (possibly named i5 5675C) and a Z97 motherboard. It's assumed that they will replace the existing Haswell/Devil's Canyon product lineup at more or less the same prices and performance-wise be on par with existing processors, just with improved efficiency and less heat.
3. If you don't mind holding out for a bit over half a year, Intel will be releasing the completely new Skylake processor lineup slated for Q3/Q4 2015, which will be incompatible with existing motherboards and will be released with the new Z170 motherboard platform. No idea about pricing or potential performance. Skylake will be compatible with DDR3 and DDR4 (depending on the slots on the motherboard you buy) so it's a little more future proof.
I was curious and looked into that..
How does that look for a less than 1000$ budget?
410$ CAN for a bundle with ASUS Z97-E Motherboard & Intel i5 4690K
http://www.ncix.com/detail/ncix-bundle-deal-asus-z97-e-f6-105862-1304.htm
410$ CAN for a MSI GeForce GTX 970
http://www.ncix.com/detail/msi-geforce-gtx-970-oc-9f-102246-1304.htm
edit: nvm, i saw your link with better motherboard/cpu bundles.But it seems to be an american site, ah well..
Will all of this + my current 550w power supply and 8gb ram be enough for a couple of years with current gen games and good performance?
What's a good, quiet CPU fan that would fit with this CPU?
So you've seen how that OC isn't necessarily stable. That's pretty much how it works when OCing manually. You adjust CPU ratio and voltage until you don't get a BSOD when testing .
Sorry, I keep thinking you're in the US.
I saw that NCIX bundle and it's an alright price, I guess. If you want, you could purchase the same bundle from Memory Express and get them to pricematch the bundle, you'll save another few dollars after the extra pricematch discount totaling $405.99. And then you could still apply this $20 mail in rebate from NCIX's webpage (it says it's Canada wide and doesn't say it's limited to NCIX) so the bundle would be effectively $405.99+tax minus $20 mail in rebate. You could also get the i5 4690K ($289) and a cheaper Z97 motherboard separately like this ASRock Z97 Anniversary ($95 after $30 rebate) for about $385 plus tax, but the Asus Z97-E is just a better motherboard for the slightly higher price, I'd recommend the bundle.
With the new processor, motherboard, and GPU you'd be good for the next 3~4 years, even longer if you overclock. Consider getting another 8GB of RAM for less than $70. What model of RAM do you have? You should get RAM that matches the speed of your current RAM for best compatibility.
EatinOlives
Member
Thank you for the tons of info!
Yeah I figured there was no way I could keep my old mobo. I helped a friend build his first PC in 2013 and there already were entirely new sockets, so I knew for sure nothing was going to be compatible with my 2010 board.
I'm not entirely sure as to when I want to buy. I'm thinking of buying now since GTA V, Witcher 3 and Arkham Knight are just around the corner, that and I've been toying with the idea of upgrading it ever since I got my 770 close to a couple years ago. Yeah it's always a bummer to know that the mobo will have to be replaced again if I don't wait until Skylake comes out (which I didn't know was coming, thanks for that), but I think springing for the board whenever it is that I decide to upgrade again wouldn't be too bad. I don't have a "schedule" or anything as to when I do my upgrades, maybe I end up waiting so long that the Z170 becomes outdated by the time I upgrade again. I do have access to a Microcenter so that $250 combo sounds pretty tempting.
Quick question regarding the i5s: is springing for an i7 worth it if I want to stick to the upper midrange, or is that something only reserved for bleeding edge? I've always been confused between the power-price ratio of the i5 vs the i7.
Thank you too for the tons of info! I don't know why but the four digits felt like I couldn't tell them apart (i.e., more confusing)
Or you could have read the OP
But you guys are so helpfuuuuul
The i5 is better for price-to performance. Generally speaking you won't really get that much higher game performance by going with i7 as the quad core i5 processors are good enough for most games. There may be a few situations in which the i7's extra processing threads could help in some gaming scenarios, but the differences usually aren't great enough to warrant spending the extra money. See these articles from Techspot and Anandtech for an idea of how small the differences are.
If you wanted higher performance, I'd recommend overclocking the i5 as opposed to paying more for the i7 unless you were doing things that would take more advantage of the i7's extra processing threads, like video editing or heavy computational stuff for school/work. Even then the i5 doesn't lag that far behind in video editing/encoding, according to those articles. A good cooler that costs less than the extra cost of going with the i7 would help with keeping temperatures down and let you overclock (now or in the future) for added performance.
I'm already going to spend over 800$, so i'm not too worried "wasting" a couple extra buck for a better motherboard. But thanks for the suggestion.
Is getting another 8gb really worth it? I might wait a little before doing that anyway.
Not sure what model exactly I do have, but its 2x4gb DDR3-1600.
What about a quiet CPU fan, any suggestions to go with the i5 4690k?
Thanks for your help.
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