Wowfunhappy
Member
Any recommendations for BluRay read AND WRITE drives? Don't care about playback software; my intention is to rip the discs and back them up, not play them directly.
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"I Need a New PC!" 2015 Part 2. Read the OP. Rocking 2500K's until HBM2 and beyond.
- Thread starter Hazaro
- Start date
- Status
Celcius
°Temp. member
What mobo?
Hasphat'sAnts
Member
Seasonic SSR 650?
New one works perfectly! Gonna +1 the notion of not buying a Corsair CX series.
InvertedComposer
Banned
Alright, tried everything in the OP and still can't boot.
Probably going to get ready to take to a shop and/or just sell all the parts.
Probably going to get ready to take to a shop and/or just sell all the parts.
Hey guys, my current PC is getting very old so I'm planning on building a new one soon. I have already chosen most of the parts but I would appreciate if someone could give me a second opinion 
I went through the checklist in the OP so here are all the details:
My current PC for comparison:
Budget: I live in New Zealand and my budget is maximum NZ$2,000.
Usage: I'm looking at using the PC instead of my PS4 for multiplatform games (like Dark Souls 3). I also run simulations on MATLAB/Simulink and do some occasional 3D modelling on PTC Creo and rendering on Keyshot. My current PC really chugs on larger Creo assemblies and rendering takes a long ass time, it'd be very good if I can improve that significantly.
I will play most games on my 1080p TV but I also want to be able to play FPS games (like Killing Floor 2) on my 1440p monitor. Downscaling games would be pretty cool but not being able to is not a deal breaker.
I really want that PC to run Dark Souls 3 at a solid 1080p60 when it comes out but I guess we won't know how well it runs until it comes out.
Something that's really important to me is noise. My current PC is way, way too loud. I'd like something that's pretty much silent when you're not playing games and doesn't get much more noisy than that when you are.
When? I'll probably buy most of the parts on boxing day, playtech.co.nz usually has 10-15% discounts on everything for occasions like these.
Overclocking: I might do some light CPU overclocking but nothing major.
So now that all that is out of the way here's the parts I chose:
Like I mentioned before I'm keeping SSD + HDD, I have access to free Windows 10 licenses with uni and I might be able to get a hyper 212 EVO for free which would cut costs down a little bit.
I tried to get parts to keep the noise level down (hence the case and the 970 Strix).
The Asus Z170-A recommended in the OP is not available in NZ, the Z170-AR is the same without the DVI port I think.
It's bothering me a bit that new graphics card are coming out later next year but I kinda want to upgrade now, and I'm thinking that this GTX 970 should still stay relevant for another 2-3 years, at which point I could upgrade to something else.
Is there anything really wrong with that PC? Any other comments are welcome!
Cheers
I went through the checklist in the OP so here are all the details:
My current PC for comparison:
- Phenom II x4 955 (3.2Ghz)
- Asus M4A78LT-M Motherboard
- Corsair 2 GB DDR3 (1333Mhz) - used to be 4GB but the other stick died a couple of weeks ago
- XFX HD 5850 (1GB)
- Crucial MX100 256GB SSD
- Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB hard-drive
- Antec Twelve Hundred Case
- Corsair CX-430v2 Powersupply (430W)
Budget: I live in New Zealand and my budget is maximum NZ$2,000.
Usage: I'm looking at using the PC instead of my PS4 for multiplatform games (like Dark Souls 3). I also run simulations on MATLAB/Simulink and do some occasional 3D modelling on PTC Creo and rendering on Keyshot. My current PC really chugs on larger Creo assemblies and rendering takes a long ass time, it'd be very good if I can improve that significantly.
I will play most games on my 1080p TV but I also want to be able to play FPS games (like Killing Floor 2) on my 1440p monitor. Downscaling games would be pretty cool but not being able to is not a deal breaker.
I really want that PC to run Dark Souls 3 at a solid 1080p60 when it comes out but I guess we won't know how well it runs until it comes out.
Something that's really important to me is noise. My current PC is way, way too loud. I'd like something that's pretty much silent when you're not playing games and doesn't get much more noisy than that when you are.
When? I'll probably buy most of the parts on boxing day, playtech.co.nz usually has 10-15% discounts on everything for occasions like these.
Overclocking: I might do some light CPU overclocking but nothing major.
So now that all that is out of the way here's the parts I chose:
Like I mentioned before I'm keeping SSD + HDD, I have access to free Windows 10 licenses with uni and I might be able to get a hyper 212 EVO for free which would cut costs down a little bit.
I tried to get parts to keep the noise level down (hence the case and the 970 Strix).
The Asus Z170-A recommended in the OP is not available in NZ, the Z170-AR is the same without the DVI port I think.
It's bothering me a bit that new graphics card are coming out later next year but I kinda want to upgrade now, and I'm thinking that this GTX 970 should still stay relevant for another 2-3 years, at which point I could upgrade to something else.
Is there anything really wrong with that PC? Any other comments are welcome!
Cheers
-snip-
Like I mentioned before I'm keeping SSD + HDD, I have access to free Windows 10 licenses with uni and I might be able to get a hyper 212 EVO for free which would cut costs down a little bit.
I tried to get parts to keep the noise level down (hence the case and the 970 Strix).
The Asus Z170-A recommended in the OP is not available in NZ, the Z170-AR is the same without the DVI port I think.
It's bothering me a bit that new graphics card are coming out later next year but I kinda want to upgrade now, and I'm thinking that this GTX 970 should still stay relevant for another 2-3 years, at which point I could upgrade to something else.
Is there anything really wrong with that PC? Any other comments are welcome!
Cheers
MSI's 970 Gaming 4G also switches off fans when not used intensively, also performs marginally better. Might come out cheaper too. Noisier during games though so perhaps Strix is indeed best.
If you're going to overclock shit (and you got a K model and a nice mobo it looks like, so I would assume so) you might want to reconsider that 500w PSU. Cooler Master V650 pretty decent, semi modular and gold. Seasonic's got that m12 evo, not that expensive around most places. Superflower, EVGA G2 (iirc?) also all very good at similar price ranges typically, perhaps a little more.
How are you doing on RAM height vs. cooler height? Hard to tell but GSkill usually have pretty tall sets. That Hyper 212X is adjustable, but if it's a lot you may want to think about lower profile. Probably fine tho. I'd also recommend you save yourself this headache later and get 2x8 ram off the bat.
Phanteks Enthoo Pro is really nice case, cools well, I'd recommend you look at if you can get it at a decent price (should be around the same as R5). Other side to using a silent case is that they don't cool as well typically, higher temps, fans turning faster and hence also make it louder. I'm personally not a believer in silent cases, but it's up to you.
Looks pretty legit :b
opticalmace
Member
What are you using your system for? I would lean towards the 5820k, under the assumption that you will be overclocking it.
The 6700K will pull ahead a bit in most (gaming) cases at max overclock but I'd favour the extra 2 cores of the 5820K overall.
Primarily gaming, but I run a lot of VM's and networking stuff for school as well.
And thanks for your help in the tech support thread also. No luck with anything, so here I am...
Finaika
Member
Happened to me a lot on my old laptop too.
manfestival
Member
I just hope my GPU isn't dying again, I want to hold onto my 670 until the next gen nVidia GPUs
dota 2 killed your gpu
That can usually happen with an unstable overclock, whether by user or from the manufacturer. If your video card is overclock, try running at the normal stock core and memory speeds for that GPU.
Unknown Soldier
Member
qa_engineer
Member
If you get a 5820k don't skimp on the cooling solution. A decent AIO water cooler will let you push it to 4.4ghz and beyond no sweat.
Thanks for your help everyone!
Jackfrags has a video of that PC as well.
Since you mentioned this, would you be able to identify the water pump in this setup?
Jackfrags has a video of that PC as well.
Hmm, if it was an old power supply then that might have been a likely explanation for your issue, but the Seasonic model is fairly recent and should be well made, although it being defective isn't out of the question. Have you checked your BIOS settings for any power saving features? Try turning them off, maybe. Perhaps swap another power supply in if you have another one to try. Sorry, but it's kind of difficult to troubleshoot power-related issues, there aren't very many ways.
Newegg has an Asus model for $30 after $30 rebate. It's rated at 4/5 stars after almost 400 reviews. If you care about write speeds and want something faster then there is an LG model for $47 with 16x write speed versus the Asus model's 12x speed. It's been a long time since I've needed to burn discs, but as I recall higher speed burning with some DVDs was more likely to result in failed burns. Not sure if that still applies to writable blu-ray discs.
Hey guys, my current PC is getting very old so I'm planning on building a new one soon. I have already chosen most of the parts but I would appreciate if someone could give me a second opinion
I went through the checklist in the OP so here are all the details:
My current PC for comparison:
What stays: I am planning on keeping the SSD and HDD since they still work well (and the SSD is only 1 year old). I'm also keeping all my peripherals which are pretty good (Logitech G502 mouse, Steelseries 6GV2 keyboard, Dell U2512H monitor, Sennheiser hd555 headphones). I might also be able to get a Cooler Master 212 EVO for free (there's one in a broken PC at my parent's place). I'm a student so I get Windows 10 Pro for free too.
- Phenom II x4 955 (3.2Ghz)
- Asus M4A78LT-M Motherboard
- Corsair 2 GB DDR3 (1333Mhz) - used to be 4GB but the other stick died a couple of weeks ago
- XFX HD 5850 (1GB)
- Crucial MX100 256GB SSD
- Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB hard-drive
- Antec Twelve Hundred Case
- Corsair CX-430v2 Powersupply (430W)
Budget: I live in New Zealand and my budget is maximum NZ$2,000.
Usage: I'm looking at using the PC instead of my PS4 for multiplatform games (like Dark Souls 3). I also run simulations on MATLAB/Simulink and do some occasional 3D modelling on PTC Creo and rendering on Keyshot. My current PC really chugs on larger Creo assemblies and rendering takes a long ass time, it'd be very good if I can improve that significantly.
I will play most games on my 1080p TV but I also want to be able to play FPS games (like Killing Floor 2) on my 1440p monitor. Downscaling games would be pretty cool but not being able to is not a deal breaker.
I really want that PC to run Dark Souls 3 at a solid 1080p60 when it comes out but I guess we won't know how well it runs until it comes out.
Something that's really important to me is noise. My current PC is way, way too loud. I'd like something that's pretty much silent when you're not playing games and doesn't get much more noisy than that when you are.
When? I'll probably buy most of the parts on boxing day, playtech.co.nz usually has 10-15% discounts on everything for occasions like these.
Overclocking: I might do some light CPU overclocking but nothing major.
So now that all that is out of the way here's the parts I chose:
Like I mentioned before I'm keeping SSD + HDD, I have access to free Windows 10 licenses with uni and I might be able to get a hyper 212 EVO for free which would cut costs down a little bit.
I tried to get parts to keep the noise level down (hence the case and the 970 Strix).
The Asus Z170-A recommended in the OP is not available in NZ, the Z170-AR is the same without the DVI port I think.
It's bothering me a bit that new graphics card are coming out later next year but I kinda want to upgrade now, and I'm thinking that this GTX 970 should still stay relevant for another 2-3 years, at which point I could upgrade to something else.
Is there anything really wrong with that PC? Any other comments are welcome!
Cheers
Your parts list seems fine for the most part, except for the power supply. It's a SFX (small form factor) model, you should look for a standard ATX power supply which in all likelihood should be cheaper with higher wattage and better performing. To help cut costs, look around for the Fractal Define S, it's similar to the Define R5 but has fewer features and is usually available for cheaper.
Unknown Soldier
Member
If you're not going full custom loop, a Noctua NH-D15 will compete with any AIO that you care to throw at a 5820K.
Hasphat'sAnts
Member
No worries. Thanks!
Finally got my case today!
So I built the PC.
No pics for now, but it's nice.
I knew the "Galaxy Silver" color would look like a MacBook Pro. I wish that maybe I should have gone with the gray, but it's too late now. I'm keeping it.
Still waiting for the 970. B&H and their back orders. -__-
So I built the PC.
No pics for now, but it's nice.
I knew the "Galaxy Silver" color would look like a MacBook Pro. I wish that maybe I should have gone with the gray, but it's too late now. I'm keeping it.
Still waiting for the 970. B&H and their back orders. -__-
Thanks for the help guys!
I didn't think about the RAM height. I can get 2x8GB of 2666MHz corsair RAM for $205. Looking at the photos it seems fairly low profile, the heat sink doesn't really stick out much higher than the PCB:
Is there a significant difference between RAM running at 2666MHz and 2800MHz? Going for the latter would cost an extra $40 which is not negligible.
I switched the power supply for a V650 (which is fully modular and apparently better than the V650S which I think is the one you meant daxy), thanks for pointing out my mistake.
The strix graphics card seems to be the cheapest option by far ($50) in NZ so I'll stick with it.
I took a look at a couple of reviews for the cases you both suggested and I think I'll go for the Fractal Design S. It seems to fit my needs pretty well, it's pretty silent, apparently has good airflow and I like the look.
I can get a 212 EVO for free so I took the 212 X off the parts list too.
So now here's what the build looks like:
Skyfireblaze
Member
Scary problem, I never even knew about this. I have the same setup as you with no issues as I have all 4 RAM slots occupied and everything has worked solid day 1. Unlucky.
Well I'm not sure how widespread it was but I did find quite a few cases after looking around online so it was definitely not
Oh I wasn't hoping for miracles that my board will recover itself, I was just curious if anyone else here on GAF was affected by it and managed to repair it. Yeah... in the end I think I won't do it and stay with 8gb until I upgrade to Skylake or whatever. It's not like I'm running out of RAM and breaking the board means I'll have to buy another Ivy Bridge board which is wasted money at this point.
UnrealEck
Member
Looks like an EK water cooling system.
opticalmace
Member
It's fine. The software isn't really even needed. You can do the same thing that the Samsung software does by yourself, it's just more convenient because the Samsung software puts all of the options together in a central location.
Are you planning to overclock? If you are then Z97 is very much recommended. Otherwise, look for an H81/B85/H97 motherboard, and consider returning or exchanging the i5 4690K for a non-overclocking model to save money. What country are you in, what's your budget for a motherboard, and do you have any links to retailers that you'd prefer to order from?
The GD08 has no problem fitting longer graphics cards, but due to height restrictions, you will want a shorter graphics card. I recommend an EVGA model, their cards with the ACX2.0 and ACX2.0+ cooler are fairly compact. For example, the EVGA GTX 970 ACX2.0 models measure 4.38" tall, which will fit within the 5.5" height restriction in the GD08.
What's your existing processor? How about listing your system specs in general as well?
Athreous
Member
What options should I ensure are set?
Skyfireblaze
Member
Okay guys and girls I need a quick assessment, my PC just died, it just shut off and won't turn on. A full power cycle makes the power LED light up for one second but fan movement or anything. my USB stick at the back of the PC lights up though. What's more likely, that my BeQuiet Straight Power Dual Rail 550w PSU from 2009 died or my ASRock z77 Pro 3 mobo. I'm trying everything now...
Ghekkus
Member
I got everything installed finally. I was going to go with a Corsair case but last minute I found the Fractal R5 and something just clicked. The hidden SSD mounts are super groovy. I've never had a case this clutter free. I love it.
Only thing I don't like is the video card is huge and sags on the right side but hopefully that's not an issue.
If this is too off topic I'll take it to the trouble shooting thread but figured I'd ask here since it's only a minor issue and more curious than bothered by it.
The back left exhaust fan is the only one connected directly to the motherboard and it will randomly spin up fast for about 15 seconds and slow back down. The intake fans (2 in front, 1 on bottom) are connected through the case fan controller, and the radiator fans are connected through the pump attachment. Any idea why that one would spin up randomly?
Only thing I don't like is the video card is huge and sags on the right side but hopefully that's not an issue.
If this is too off topic I'll take it to the trouble shooting thread but figured I'd ask here since it's only a minor issue and more curious than bothered by it.
The back left exhaust fan is the only one connected directly to the motherboard and it will randomly spin up fast for about 15 seconds and slow back down. The intake fans (2 in front, 1 on bottom) are connected through the case fan controller, and the radiator fans are connected through the pump attachment. Any idea why that one would spin up randomly?
There are certain settings you can optionally turn off to reclaim extra SSD space and whatnot. This is a brief overview of what you can do, but it's not all necessary. Defragmentation should be disabled for SSDs by default and TRIM support should be automatically enabled, for example. Readyboost is something you probably aren't even using so that can be ignored. Hibernation and system restore can be turned off to save space, but I know I personally need system restore in case something goes wrong. Prefetch, Superfetch, and search indexing can also be turned off, but it's not really negative to keep them on, they apparently just aren't needed for SSDs. I don't see a problem with keeping search indexing on.
A lot of "SSD tweaks" are also intended to prolong the life expectancy of SSDs by reducing the number of activities that cause read and write, a holdover from when SSDs used to have much shorter lifespans and doing these things could keep your drive from dying too early. Nowadays they're not really needed. Also, some of these tweaks were needed as earlier versions of Windows did not necessarily optimize itself for SSD usage, but I like to think that later OSes can detect and set itself according.
Unplug the PC from the wall and let it sit for a while. I dunno, 15 to 30 minutes should be more than enough. Then plug it back in and try turning it on. It's a bit difficult to explain, but sometimes unplugging electronics and letting it "settle" can allow it to start working again later.
When you try to power on the PC, does the PSU fan start spinning and continue spinning? Try the paper clip test and see if your PSU works independently of the motherboard as well. If the PSU works, then I'd suspect the motherboard. A brand new Z77 motherboard is kinda high priced, though, compared to current and last generation motherboards.
i5 3550k OC'd at 4.2 Ghz on air
Rest of the specs:
AsRock Z77 Extreme 4
2x4GB DDR3 @ 1600 MHz
MSI 980 Ti OC'd
OCZ SSD 120GB for OS disk.
2x500GB RAID-0 Samsung HDD
What games do you play, and how are you feeling bottlenecked? I don't think there's anything an overclocked i5 3570K can't handle.
The fan connected to the motherboard might be spinning faster due to the motherboard setting fan speed according to how hot it is inside the PC. Check your temperatures and/or use the motherboard's fan speed utility to change the speed to something you prefer, or just connect the rear fan to the case's fan controller.
I recently built a new pc(never doing that again) anyway my question is my I7 670 feels slower compared to my old I7 980x, because I feel like the new pc runs like a car stuck in mud. Freaking Google Chrome brings my cpu useage up to 98% on the I7 670.
New pc
I7 670, asus sabertooth mobo,16 ddr 4, 980 gtx
Old pc
I7 980x, asus rampage, 12 gigs ddr 3 ram.
Same SDD Samsung Evo 540 and Windows 10.
New pc
I7 670, asus sabertooth mobo,16 ddr 4, 980 gtx
Old pc
I7 980x, asus rampage, 12 gigs ddr 3 ram.
Same SDD Samsung Evo 540 and Windows 10.
I've been tuned out of PC gaming for a while now. Would the 6700K offer huge improvements over a 2600K right now for gaming specifically? After Fallout 4 I'm looking to move back to PC for most multiplatform games (especially single player ones) but if I can get away with just buying a mid-tier GPU (my current one is solely for movie server duties) for the time being and wait until Pascal hits to build a whole new system, I'd like that. Already have an SSD and 16GB of DDR3 RAM so it's really a question of GPU or everything.
Ghekkus
Member
RGM79 said:
Thanks, I'll check it out. Oh yea, I took your advice on the mechanical keyboard (G710+), It's wonderful, lol.
Edit: I just checked the software that came with the motherboard I installed. I didn't notice but it has a feature to reverse the fans every set amount of hours to help with dust. I bet that's why it's spinning up like that.
Mad Season
Banned
Could someone recommend a power supply (no more than 500w) and a 2GB graphics card for this motherboard?
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3444#ov
it will be for my little boy who does some gaming but doesnt need anything super crazy or high end.
thank you!
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3444#ov
it will be for my little boy who does some gaming but doesnt need anything super crazy or high end.
thank you!
Huw_Dawson
Member
Had a lot of trouble deciding between a r9 390 plus a bigger PSU or getting a 970. Price difference was about £70 due to the PSU needed for the Radeon. Looking at the games I want to play I decided that the extra expense wasn't worth the money, given that I only have a 120hz 1080p monitor.
Naturally Amazon are taking ages with the parcel. ;_;
Should I be feeling bad right now? I am a little worried that some new amazing card will come out at the £250 range early next year that will make my new 970 obsolete quickly. Given we are entering VR land next year I'd hate to lose out in that regard.
What is next year looking like? I want an amazing VR experience - will the 970 hold up for, say, a year? Two?
@ above poster, how about an EVGA 500B and a Geforce 960?
Naturally Amazon are taking ages with the parcel. ;_;
Should I be feeling bad right now? I am a little worried that some new amazing card will come out at the £250 range early next year that will make my new 970 obsolete quickly. Given we are entering VR land next year I'd hate to lose out in that regard.
What is next year looking like? I want an amazing VR experience - will the 970 hold up for, say, a year? Two?
@ above poster, how about an EVGA 500B and a Geforce 960?
Are all the drivers installed? Latest versions? Did you reinstall Windows?
The improvements aren't that great, but you do get smoother performance. Kepler GPUs are Nvidia's last generation models (mostly GTX 700 series), you meant Pascal (potentially GTX 1000 series or whatever name they come up with), right?
Good to know, the brown switches and pre-installed rubber rings really make it less loud.
How much do you want to spend? What are the rest of the PC specs? The cheapest parts I'd recommend would be the EVGA 500B for $38 after $15 rebate and a GTX 950 which starts at around $130. Nvidia's lower middle range of graphics cards are fairly power efficient, if you already have a power supply then you may not even need a new PSU. According to PCPer's tests, a recent PC with an i5 processor and GTX 750 Ti can be comfortably powered by a 150~200 watt PSU.
I wouldn't really call it noisy at all though even under full load. It's extremely quiet even with my 1550MHz overclock. I would say it can be audible, but not noisy.
And it is easy to setup a fan curve to make it as quiet or loud as you want.
So I have an Intel Core i5 760 and a GTX 460. I don't even know how much I can update it. What's the best I can get with the motherboard I have right now? Do I update it now and get stuck with old tech or do I wait a year and get one of those new Intel chips + a slightly lower priced Nvidia card?
Time is not an issue, I'm fine with playing 3 to 8 year old $2 games for now but I do want to play games like TW3 later. My main concern really is how Source 2 will handle but no one knows how that works.
Time is not an issue, I'm fine with playing 3 to 8 year old $2 games for now but I do want to play games like TW3 later. My main concern really is how Source 2 will handle but no one knows how that works.
Mad Season
Banned
awesome, thanks for that power supply. My buddy said he'll sell this card to me for $50. thoughts?
http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/graphics/desktop/6000/6950
- Status