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[JGCD]

First, I'd highly advise against getting a Rift DK2 now if that's what you were about to order. Wait for the consumer version next year. Second, Oculus said a GTX970 or equivalent card is recommended for CV1 and obviously a modern CPU won't hurt, so if you have no parts at all, you are looking at 1000$+

Thanks and I guess I'll wait before buying one ( didn't know that a consumer version was coming soon)

 

[BossDarkseid]

This is good, ideally you would record the CPUz Vcore with stock settings as your start off point, but im sure itll be very close to 1.2v as well.

Now what you want to do is set the multiplier to x42, and adaptive offset to +0.00v.
This will look in the BIOS for the recommended Vcore for a multiplier of x42, and add 0.00v to it. Now find the load Vcore in CPUz as before. If the Vcore is reading 1.27v for example, you can use a negative offset to 0.07v to bring it down to 1.2v. Tweak this until you can get x42 multipler to boot and run a stress test for 10mins.

Check the temps, see if you can push more clock speed and Vcore.

Repeat process.

As stated above I've actually managed to get it on a x43 multiplier with a +0.2v adaptive offset and it passed a 15min stress test. I'll run a longer one but for now it seems quite good, no? However it still only reaches about 1.2xv in HWInfo/CPU-Z while under the stress test...It's not that i'm paranoid about going any higher, I know my temps allow me to, but considering it is now at the overclock the PC was meant to be in when it arrived I'm quite happy with it atm. Gonna do the long test and either edit this post with success or just cry with failure and a volcanic pc.

Edit: Damnit, me and my big mouth. As soon as I opened HWInfo and RealBench i gto a BSOD said Page fault in nonpaged area (cpuz somethingsomething 64.exe). I didn't open CPUZ so I don't know if it's just playing tricks on me but...does anyone know what that bsod refers to?

Second Edit: Just finished a 1hr stress test w/16gb ram, no failures, max cVoltage is in the 1.2xx range and temps are high 50s/low60s

 

[Shadowman16]

No, it won't work. That motherboard only support 1st gen i7 CPU, the 4790k is 4th gen.

Cool, thanks for confirming this. I'll have to upgrade the motherboard as well in that case!

 

[Barzul]

First, I'd highly advise against getting a Rift DK2 now if that's what you were about to order. Wait for the consumer version next year. Second, Oculus said a GTX970 or equivalent card is recommended for CV1 and obviously a modern CPU won't hurt, so if you have no parts at all, you are looking at 1000$+.

---

I'm thinking about upgrading my CPU for Christmas since I'm doing a lot of video rendering stuff currently and for the forseeable future. I'm currently using an i5 4570 @ 3,2GHz so I imagine an upgrade to, say, an i7 6700k that could probably be overclocked to 4,5GHz or more would benefit me.

Any personal experiences from people who did a similar upgrade? Can I just swap MB, CPU and RAM without having to do a fresh windows install (I'd really rather not have to do one)?

E: Wtf, just checked prices for the 6700k and it seems pretty well sold out and the shops which still have stock sell it for 450€+..... isn't 350 the MSRP? Damn, you'd think Intel would have supplied enough stock by now

You'll want to reinstall if you're swapping motherboards. I just did this and while Windows 10 did come up which surprised me and impressed me at the same time. I decided on a clean intsall just to be on the safe side and not have any weird issues that might arrive from carrying over stuff from my previous install like old motherboard drivers for instance.

 

[Agraavan]

No worries. They're not so much "low tier" as they are "cost effective". You said you had no plans to overclock, so those are some of the better choices for non-overclocking oriented parts there are. Of course, you could always choose to get the flagship i7 4790K processor and Z97 motherboard and not overclock them, but that sort of defeats the purpose of getting more expensive overclockable parts (they do offer slightly higher stock performance than the parts I suggested at first, though).

The second set of recommendations are for Intel's latest Skylake parts, and can be overclocked. For best results, they should be used with DDR4 RAM, so I don't recommend reusing your existing DDR3 RAM with it. There are some Skylake motherboards that accept DDR3 RAM, but it is unknown if there are any long term problems running DDR3 RAM with Skylake as Skylake is intended to be used with lower voltage DDR4 and DDR3L RAM. Also, DDR3 RAM may bottleneck Skylake processors, although this will depend heavily on what you're doing with the PC and other factors.

It's totally reasonable to expect to keep a decent processor and motherboard around for 4 years. [...]

I think I'm gonna dip on the Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor, Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler, Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard, G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory and include an Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G - OEM on Newegg for a total of $532.45.

I'm not from the US, so it's better for me to buy everything in one place to pay a single shipping and a receiving charge at the hotel. Now all I have to do is control my anxiety because I'll only be able to order it in January.

Last, I sure am not gonna overclock since I don't even have a clue where to start or what it is exactly, but if somehow down the road I change my mind, will I be able to do it without further aquisitions?

 

[LilJoka]

As stated above I've actually managed to get it on a x43 multiplier with a +0.2v adaptive offset and it passed a 15min stress test. I'll run a longer one but for now it seems quite good, no? However it still only reaches about 1.2xv in HWInfo/CPU-Z while under the stress test...It's not that i'm paranoid about going any higher, I know my temps allow me to, but considering it is now at the overclock the PC was meant to be in when it arrived I'm quite happy with it atm. Gonna do the long test and either edit this post with success or just cry with failure and a volcanic pc.

Edit: Damnit, me and my big mouth. As soon as I opened HWInfo and RealBench i gto a BSOD said Page fault in nonpaged area (cpuz somethingsomething 64.exe). I didn't open CPUZ so I don't know if it's just playing tricks on me but...does anyone know what that bsod refers to?

Second Edit: Just finished a 1hr stress test w/16gb ram, no failures, max cVoltage is in the 1.2xx range and temps are high 50s/low60s

1.2 what? need exact peak here, it matters to us.

Make sure youre not using too much ram, if it fills it all, itll just slow down and the CPU wont run 100%, i usually run 12GB on a 16GB system. If this Realbench, it might be different, just make sure the CPU is at 100% usage whilst its running.

You should be going for a higher overclock if your getting 4.3Ghz at ~1.25v, temps also look good.

Windows has got really crappy for OCing since 8 because it doesnt give the BSOD code anymore. You might have too look up how to debug these new BSOD screens, because they were very useful in Windows 7 to work out what voltages need tweaking.

You should lock in the Load Line Calibration here if its on AUTO, find out which LLC setting gives the same CPUz load Vcore as you currently are getting.

You are far from danger right now.

 

[BossDarkseid]

1.2 what? need exact peak here, it matters to us.

Make sure youre not using too much ram, if it fills it all, itll just slow down and the CPU wont run 100%, i usually run 12GB on a 16GB system. If this Realbench, it might be different, just make sure the CPU is at 100% usage whilst its running.

You should be going for a higher overclock if your getting 4.3Ghz at ~1.25v, temps also look good.

Windows has got really crappy for OCing since 8 because it doesnt give the BSOD code anymore. You might have too look up how to debug these new BSOD screens, because they were very useful in Windows 7 to work out what voltages need tweaking.

You should lock in the Load Line Calibration here if its on AUTO, find out which LLC setting gives the same CPUz load Vcore as you currently are getting.

You are far from danger right now.

It was 1.261v and yeah, it was RealBench. CPU was at 100% most of the time while i was present, only dipping down to 99% for less than the blink of an eye. Yeah I think LLC is on auto, I'll look up the levels at some point. Would that essentially be to replace the vCore offset or to work alongside it?

And that is good to hear! If the BSOD happens again I'll try and take a picture and look it up in more detail, but hopefully it won't.

 

[LilJoka]

It was 1.261v and yeah, it was RealBench. CPU was at 100% most of the time while i was present, only dipping down to 99% for less than the blink of an eye. Yeah I think LLC is on auto, I'll look up the levels at some point. Would that essentially be to replace the vCore offset or to work alongside it?

And that is good to hear! If the BSOD happens again I'll try and take a picture and look it up in more detail, but hopefully it won't.

We want to find the LLC level its using currently because its seems to work well. What will happen as you raise the multiplier, it will raise the level of LLC to higher levels, and then youll be scratching your head why you suddenly got a massive Vcore increase with a small offset voltage. You can just try the middle level of LLC, see if the Vcore is the same in CPUz, if not adjust LLC level as necessary till it matches. Then that setting is locked in.

Your BSOD shoudl leave a dump file, i used to use BSOD viewer on Windows 7, probably something similar on 10. The problem is the actual BSOD doesnt display anything useful anymore.

LLC is workign alongside Vcore setting.

Vcore offset 0.00v -> 1.2v in CPUz load LLC OFF
LLC L1 -> Vcore offset 0.00v -> 1.22v in CPUz load
LLC L2 -> Vcore offset 0.00v -> 1.24v in CPUz load
LLC L3- > Vcore offset 0.00v -> 1.27v in CPUz load
LLC L4 -> Vcore offset 0.00v -> 1.30v in CPUz load

^ That is what can happen.

LLC is an old invention from the times people used static Vcore. Here people wanted the Idle Vcore to be close to the Load Vcore, by default, the Idle Vcore would be higher than the Load Vcore. This was because, when the system was put under load, the VCore dropped, so LLC was invented to compensate this effect.

But now, we have adaptive Vcore, it got more complex.

See this for example:
4.4Ghz BIOS 1.34v, Load 1.3v, 1.2Ghz 0.8v --> LLC OFF --> Stable, always enough Vcore at all speeds through x12-x44
4.4Ghz BIOS 1.22v, Load 1.2v, 1.2Ghz 0.7v --> LLC Very High --> Stable in Realbench, BSOD at idle!

You see here, only 1.22v is needed, but due to Voltage drop under load, you have to run quite a high Vcore 'setting' which isnt desired.
But with too much LLC to compensate, you broke your idle stability.

In theory, you can now run without LLC, but LLC helps when you have a sudden draw of power, like starting a stress test, so a lot of people still run it at a medium setting.

What you dont want to happen, is the Board changing its LLC while you are playing about, because you will scratch your head thinking WTF is happening...

 

[BossDarkseid]

We want to find the LLC level its using currently because its seems to work well. What will happen as you raise the multiplier, it will raise the level of LLC to higher levels, and then youll be scratching your head why you suddenly got a massive Vcore increase with a small offset voltage. You can just try the middle level of LLC, see if the Vcore is the same in CPUz, if not adjust LLC level as necessary till it matches. Then that setting is locked in.

Your BSOD shoudl leave a dump file, i used to use BSOD viewer on Windows 7, probably something similar on 10. The problem is the actual BSOD doesnt display anything useful anymore.

LLC is workign alongside Vcore setting.

Vcore offset 0.00v -> 1.2v in CPUz load LLC OFF
LLC L1 -> Vcore offset 0.00v -> 1.22v in CPUz load
LLC L2 -> Vcore offset 0.00v -> 1.24v in CPUz load
LLC L3- > Vcore offset 0.00v -> 1.27v in CPUz load
LLC L4 -> Vcore offset 0.00v -> 1.30v in CPUz load

^ That is what can happen.

LLC is an old invention from the times people used static Vcore. Here people wanted the Idle Vcore to be close to the Load Vcore, by default, the Idle Vcore would be higher than the Load Vcore. This was because, when the system was put under load, the VCore dropped, so LLC was invented to compensate this effect.

But now, we have adaptive Vcore, it got more complex.

See this for example:
4.4Ghz BIOS 1.34v, Load 1.3v, 1.2Ghz 0.8v --> LLC OFF --> Stable, always enough Vcore at all speeds through x12-x44
4.4Ghz BIOS 1.22v, Load 1.2v, 1.2Ghz 0.7v --> LLC Very High --> Stable in Realbench, BSOD at idle!

You see here, only 1.22v is needed, but due to Voltage drop under load, you have to run quite a high Vcore 'setting' which isnt desired.
But with too much LLC to compensate, you broke your idle stability.

In theory, you can now run without LLC, but LLC helps when you have a sudden draw of power, like starting a stress test, so a lot of people still run it at a medium setting.

What you dont want to happen, is the Board changing its LLC while you are playing about, because you will scratch your head thinking WTF is happening...

Hah, thanks. That helps me understand it a tiny bit better. I'm still sorta lost but hey ho. I got a BSOD viewer and the only highlighted/red filenames are cpuz138_x64.sys and ntoskrnl.exe. Following some MS things about the cpuz138_x64.sys one, but otherwise I haven't had any problems since.

Edit: A system scan is running at the moment to see if there are any missing/corrupted files, same with AVG although I'd be surprised if I have any malware...but basically...I should experiment with the LLC levels to find a level, preferably as low as possible, and run the old stress test to make sure it can handle it + is reliable/stable etc?

 

[knitoe]

Hah, thanks. That helps me understand it a tiny bit better. I'm still sorta lost but hey ho. I got a BSOD viewer and the only highlighted/red filenames are cpuz138_x64.sys and ntoskrnl.exe. Following some MS things about the cpuz138_x64.sys one, but otherwise I haven't had any problems since.

Edit: A system scan is running at the moment to see if there are any missing/corrupted files, same with AVG although I'd be surprised if I have any malware...but basically...I should experiment with the LLC levels to find a level, preferably as low as possible, and run the old stress test to make sure it can handle it + is reliable/stable etc?

If you are getting crashes, most likely your VCore is too low. Simplest is to just increase the offset by 0.010 increments. But, I am not sure why you didn't try my suggest.

1) Start with VCore 1.30V and find the fastest stress test stable OC core speed.

2) Then, work on lowering the VCore voltage to just what's needed.

 

[LilJoka]

Hah, thanks. That helps me understand it a tiny bit better. I'm still sorta lost but hey ho. I got a BSOD viewer and the only highlighted/red filenames are cpuz138_x64.sys and ntoskrnl.exe. Following some MS things about the cpuz138_x64.sys one, but otherwise I haven't had any problems since.

Edit: A system scan is running at the moment to see if there are any missing/corrupted files, same with AVG although I'd be surprised if I have any malware...but basically...I should experiment with the LLC levels to find a level, preferably as low as possible, and run the old stress test to make sure it can handle it + is reliable/stable etc?

Look for the bugcheck code in the BSOD entry, dont worry about what caused it, when a system crashes due to OC, its not the application fault.

Basically find the LLC level that gives the exact same CPUz Vcore as you currently are getting.

 

[BossDarkseid]

If you are getting crashes, most likely your VCore is too low. Simplest is to just increase the offset by 0.010 increments. But, I am not sure why you didn't try my suggest.

1) Start with VCore 1.30V and find the fastest stress test stable OC core speed.

2) Then, work on lowering the VCore voltage to just what's needed.

I didn't mean to dismiss it, I just don't have time to really sit down and do it at the moment. Sorry. I will probably do it at the weekend though.

Look for the bugcheck code in the BSOD entry, dont worry about what caused it, when a system crashes due to OC, its not the application fault.

Basically find the LLC level that gives the exact same CPUz Vcore as you currently are getting.

I looked it up and it should be ok, fingers crossed. And I will get on that, and the rest of the other poster's recommendations in the next day or two. I checked the mobo manual and apart from saying the 9 levels of LLC go from 0% to 125% it didn't really list anything so still scouring.

 

[RGM79]

really ? thanks ! although i do need to at least fix my cable management ! and use only the power cables from my old psu that are connected to my drives cuz it took me ages to manage those lol

Just gotta replace and use th vga and cpu/mobo power cables from my new one ;_; hopefully my pc doesn' turn off randomly now ;_;

Looking at the connectors on the PSU itself, they all appear to be the same on the 850 GS and 850 G2 except for the CPU1 connector which has different shapes. I know for a fact that the 850 GS is made by Seasonic whereas the 850 G2 is made by Super Flower, so just saying, it might not be totally compatible.

First, I'd highly advise against getting a Rift DK2 now if that's what you were about to order. Wait for the consumer version next year. Second, Oculus said a GTX970 or equivalent card is recommended for CV1 and obviously a modern CPU won't hurt, so if you have no parts at all, you are looking at 1000$+.

---

I'm thinking about upgrading my CPU for Christmas since I'm doing a lot of video rendering stuff currently and for the forseeable future. I'm currently using an i5 4570 @ 3,2GHz so I imagine an upgrade to, say, an i7 6700k that could probably be overclocked to 4,5GHz or more would benefit me.

Any personal experiences from people who did a similar upgrade? Can I just swap MB, CPU and RAM without having to do a fresh windows install (I'd really rather not have to do one)?

E: Wtf, just checked prices for the 6700k and it seems pretty well sold out and the shops which still have stock sell it for 450€+..... isn't 350 the MSRP? Damn, you'd think Intel would have supplied enough stock by now

What are your system specs? It'd be much cheaper to simply get an i7 4770K or i7 4790K instead.

I've been reading all over the place with Skylake mobos overclocking non-K cpus, any gaffer with more technical know hows shed some light to this. Thinking of starting a new thread but this may be minor and not so great.

ASRock is coming out with BIOS updates to enable base clock overclocking for non-K series Skylake processors on their Z170 motherboards. Other motherboard manufacturers are expected to follow with similar support later on. Overclocking with non-Z170 motherboard chipsets like B150 or H170 is also apparently possible going from various reports, but it isn't known why such support doesn't exist yet and hasn't been explained.

I think I'm gonna dip on the Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor, Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler, Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard, G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory and include an Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G - OEM on Newegg for a total of $532.45.

I'm not from the US, so it's better for me to buy everything in one place to pay a single shipping and a receiving charge at the hotel. Now all I have to do is control my anxiety because I'll only be able to order it in January.

Last, I sure am not gonna overclock since I don't even have a clue where to start or what it is exactly, but if somehow down the road I change my mind, will I be able to do it without further aquisitions?

Yes, you have all you need for overclocking. You don't really need that thermal paste, the 212 Evo cooler comes with a small tube of it. According to this Tom's Hardware testing article on thermal paste, there's only about a one degree difference between Arctic Silver 5 and the paste that Cooler Master bundles with its own products (37.2 degrees VS 38.3 degrees).

 

[Z..]

Guys, what are the minimum specs I can go for and still have a machine capable of perfectly running Dolphin and PCSX2?

I was saving up for a 1000+, but I'll probably jump the gun and get something cheaper for myself this Xmas, though I'd like to spend as little as possible for now so I can keep saving for that big one.

Gaaaaaf?

 

[StarlordDial]

Looking at the connectors on the PSU itself, they all appear to be the same on the 850 GS and 850 G2 except for the CPU1 connector which has different shapes. I know for a fact that the 850 GS is made by Seasonic whereas the 850 G2 is made by Super Flower, so just saying, it might not be totally compatible.

.

Yeah .. My plan really was to replace all the cables inside and just keep the power connectors for my drives .... But i might have to change then all

 

[RGM79]

Gaaaaaf?

Depends on your definition of "perfect". If money is a constraint, you can get reasonably great performance for PCSX2 and Dolphin (according to those test results) just from a ~$60 processor like the Pentium G3258. Such a build would run maybe $600 total, possibly less.

Otherwise if you want somewhat better performance and to be able to run other PC games, I'd recommend a i5 based build, you can get quite a nice build for $1000. Here's an example budget build for Dolphin and PCSX2:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($62.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($77.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($183.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $524.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-16 12:19 EST-0500

This could be even cheaper, but the Z97 motherboard and 750 watt PSU are decently priced and will allow future upgrades (e.g., drop in an i5 processor and more than enough wattage to support any single graphics card including both CPU and GPU overclocking)

 

[TheBez]

My friend purchased a new GPU and it is not working in his current setup. We plugged it into my PC and it ran fine, so he thinks that his power supply may not be providing enough watts or current. Can anyone recommend a website where he could plug in what parts he has and it would let him know if he needs more power or if its another issue?

 

[BossDarkseid]

My friend purchased a new GPU and it is not working in his current setup. We plugged it into my PC and it ran fine, so he thinks that his power supply may not be providing enough watts or current. Can anyone recommend a website where he could plug in what parts he has and it would let him know if he needs more power or if its another issue?

He could try replicating it in PCPartPicker.

What GPU is it though?

 

[TheBez]

He could try replicating it in PCPartPicker.

What GPU is it though?

I'll double check, but I think its a GTX 750? His current PSU is 500 or 550 W.

 

[j0hnny_385]

nvm

 

[OraleeWey]

nvm

Try using a different micro usb cable

 

[BossDarkseid]

I'll double check, but I think its a GTX 750? His current PSU is 500 or 550 W.

Well I'm not 100% sure but I can't imagine a GTX 750 would have trouble on a 5xx W PSU, as long as it's not some dodgy looking one he put together himself

That said for compatibility issues I would just recommend PC Part Picker. I think it checks for compatibility issues between parts and a recommended PSU but i'm not sure how accurate it is but there are worse places to start off.

 

[DieNgamers]

So my pc missed my graphic card (somehow ordered it separately. After installing it I should be able to connect the monitor...BUT: on the motherboard there's a plug in the way...On the bottom where it says "USB3_4_5"..is this the front usb 3.0 port? If so I could do without it and unplug the thing if everything depends on it, right?

 

[RGM79]

So my pc missed my graphic card (somehow ordered it separately. After installing it I should be able to connect the monitor...BUT: on the motherboard there's a plug in the way...On the bottom where it says "USB3_4_5"..is this the front usb 3.0 port? If so I could do without it and unplug the thing if everything depends on it, right?

Yes, that is the frontal USB 3.0 header. It's close, but you should be able to have both that and the graphics card plugged in, they might even be touching each other. Is the USB 3.0 connector so big that it cannot be next to the graphics card?

 

[Merovin]

Hey GAF, I'm in need of help and wasn't sure where to post so hoping someone in here may be able to assist. My PC will no longer turn on, there is literally no response from the power button.

I've checked all the connections and everything appears to be hooked up correctly. In my efforts my power surge extension lead blew the fuse for the electricity in the house and stopped working (so I figured this may be the problem), however having replaced this and tried other power outlets there is still no life from the PC.

Where do I start with troubleshooting this issue and finding out what's gone wrong? Could it just be the power supply, or could the whole thing be screwed?

Thanks in advance GAF, as always appreciate it.

 

[RGM79]

Hey GAF, I'm in need of help and wasn't sure where to post so hoping someone in here may be able to assist. My PC will no longer turn on, there is literally no response from the power button.

I've checked all the connections and everything appears to be hooked up correctly. In my efforts my power surge extension lead blew the fuse for the electricity in the house and stopped working (so I figured this may be the problem), however having replaced this and tried other power outlets there is still no life from the PC.

Where do I start with troubleshooting this issue and finding out what's gone wrong? Could it just be the power supply, or could the whole thing be screwed?

Thanks in advance GAF, as always appreciate it.

What are your PC's specs? Just to make sure, was your computer already not turning on and then the the electricity fuse blew when you were trying to troubleshoot it, or did it stop turning on after the electricity fuse blew?

Unplug the PSU's main 20/24 pin cable from the motherboard and try the paper clip test to see if it'll power on by itself. If not, then it may be the motherboard or the case's power switch.

Plug the PSU's cables back in and bridge the power switch pins on the motherboard with something metal like the end of a screwdriver. The location of the pins and the exact ones you should be bridging will depend on what motherboard you have, refer to your motherboard's manual or check where the power button cable is plugged into on the motherboard. Testing this has the same effect as pressing the power button. If it doesn't work, then it's likely to be the motherboard that is broken.

 

[LilJoka]

I didn't mean to dismiss it, I just don't have time to really sit down and do it at the moment. Sorry. I will probably do it at the weekend though.



I looked it up and it should be ok, fingers crossed. And I will get on that, and the rest of the other poster's recommendations in the next day or two. I checked the mobo manual and apart from saying the 9 levels of LLC go from 0% to 125% it didn't really list anything so still scouring.

Yes LLC levels are listed like that, just find out if lower levels give more or less Voltage compensation. Then trial and error the levels to find the one which it has selected Automatically. Will probably be somewhere in the middle.

 

[Vuze]

What are your system specs? It'd be much cheaper to simply get an i7 4770K or i7 4790K instead.

Hm yeah, the difference between this and the 6700k won't be that drastic huh? I have a cheap-ass ASRock motherboard tho (http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B85 Pro4/?cat=Specifications) so I'm not sure how well it will fare with overclocking and the like. Never overclocked CPU before, so I'm not exactly sure what's required for a stable overclock in this regard. Good idea with the 4790K though, I didn't know it uses the same socket so my initial thought was I might as well go Skylake right away.

Other specs: GTX970, 16GB DDR3

 

[RGM79]

Hm yeah, the difference between this and the 6700k won't be that drastic huh? I have a cheap-ass ASRock motherboard tho (http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B85 Pro4/?cat=Specifications) so I'm not sure how well it will fare with overclocking and the like. Never overclocked CPU before, so I'm not exactly sure what's required for a stable overclock in this regard. Good idea with the 4790K though, I didn't know it uses the same socket so my initial thought was I might as well go Skylake right away.

Other specs: GTX970, 16GB DDR3

It is possible to overclock with that B85 motherboard. There are also some video tutorials for that motherboard online. That video isn't in English, but you should be able to clearly see the programs and settings, which are in English.

Just know that B85 isn't exactly meant for overclocking and you will also need a decent CPU cooler, the standard one isn't good enough and will overheat.

 

[Agraavan]

Yes, you have all you need for overclocking. You don't really need that thermal paste, the 212 Evo cooler comes with a small tube of it. According to this Tom's Hardware testing article on thermal paste, there's only about a one degree difference between Arctic Silver 5 and the paste that Cooler Master bundles with its own products (37.2 degrees VS 38.3 degrees).

You are the man. Now all I have to do is to control my anxiety until I can order the items.

Thank you, RGM.

 

[StarlordDial]

so i just want to show what my mobo looks like when the "pc shuts off but my mobo lights are still running and etc

here is the image

it shows the D0 error, i still hear my liquid cooler active but my fan there on the side is shut off which is directly connected to the psu which basically means the issue is certainly the psu? and i also see my gpu lights is off too it seems like

edit2: just wanna mention this happens everytime my pc randomly shuts off, the gpu tem and cpu temp are always stable and such..so its probably psu related i hope

 

[LilJoka]

so i just want to show what my mobo looks like when the "pc shuts off but my mobo lights are still running and etc

here is the image

it shows the D0 error, i still hear my liquid cooler active but my fan there on the side is shut off which is directly connected to the psu which basically means the issue is certainly the psu? and i also see my gpu lights is off too it seems like

edit2: just wanna mention this happens everytime my pc randomly shuts off, the gpu tem and cpu temp are always stable and such..so its probably psu related i hope

Have you looked up D0 in motherboard manual?

 

[StarlordDial]

Have you looked up D0 in motherboard manual?

says the error code shows up to this:

late cpu initialization

 

[Vuze]

It is possible to overclock with that B85 motherboard. There are also some video tutorials for that motherboard online. That video isn't in English, but you should be able to clearly see the programs and settings, which are in English.

Just know that B85 isn't exactly meant for overclocking and you will also need a decent CPU cooler, the standard one isn't good enough and will overheat.

I'm using a noctua N-DH14, I think that one should be fine for overclocking?
Thanks for your advice! Appreciated as always.

 

[Collete]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, and I didn't see it in OP

Spoiler

or I'm blind

, but is this specifically only a desktop building thread?
Can you not ask for advice on already premade desktops?

I ask this cause I'm not the best tech person ever to assemble my own desktop....

 

[RGM79]

I'm using a noctua N-DH14, I think that one should be fine for overclocking?
Thanks for your advice! Appreciated as always.

That is a very good cooler.

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, and I didn't see it in OP

Spoiler

or I'm blind

, but is this specifically only a desktop building thread?
Can you not ask for advice on already premade desktops?

I ask this cause I'm not the best tech person ever to assemble my own desktop....

You can ask, try us. No guarantee we know everything, though. We even do a little troubleshooting and support here.

 

[Collete]

You can ask, try us. No guarantee we know everything, though. We even do a little troubleshooting and support here.

OK!

I'll use the template provided in the OP

Your Current Specs: 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM (2.40GHz 6MB Cache) / Unknown / Motherboard / NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX660M 2GB with DirectX® 11 / Unknown
Basically...it's a Lenovo Y580 Laptop and it kept crashing on high end gaming like Borderlands and TF2.
Budget: $1000-$1200 + USA
Main Use: Rate 1-5. 5 being Highest: 4-5? Streaming games in HD on Twitch. Gaming to Emulation? General Usage.
Monitor Resolution: I'm not entirely sure on resolution, I just want to be able to play fullscreen. So I guess I'm flexible?
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: Dark Souls III, Skyrim, Borderlands the Prequel. 30 FPS is acceptable. How important is PhysX / SuperSampling / CUDA to you? Kind of important.
Looking to reuse any parts?: No.
When will you build?: N/A
Will you be overclocking?: Maybe?

Sorry, I know nothing of the world of PC building. The only tech things I figured out is how to stream on Twitch... ~~

 

[Random17]

Dumb question: I've got a set of stereo speakers that connect to my PC via an auxiliary cable.

My pc connects to my monitor via HDMI, and my monitor has an auxiliary port. HDMI carries audio.

Is it better to have it plugged into my PC or my monitor? Is there any difference?

 

[CreepingFear]

Do you all know who Carey Holzman is on Youtube? If you don't, he makes PC building videos. I was surprised to see him make a video for Newegg. Months ago, he made a video complaining about how he received a few used power supplies from them after buying brand new ones. He complained and gave out the number of the head of customer service on the video. Hours or a few days later, the video was taken down. Never mentioned again. Now, he is making build videos for them lol. Not suggesting they payed him off, just kind of funny or interesting.

 

[Dewoh]

Not gonna lie, jumping into this thread and wanting to build my first PC in about 4 years is very daunting.

Please be gentle.

I'm looking for a sli 980ti setup. Is there no place to get those at the MSRP of $600 anymore?

Don't plan on overclocking, so getting a stock CPU and mobo should be just fine, right?

 

[opticalmace]

Not gonna lie, jumping into this thread and wanting to build my first PC in about 4 years is very daunting.

Please be gentle.

I'm looking for a sli 980ti setup. Is there no place to get those at the MSRP of $600 anymore?

Don't plan on overclocking, so getting a stock CPU and mobo should be just fine, right?

Hey, welcome to the thread. The best thing you can do is fill out the survey in the OP so we can put together a build for you. SLI 980 Tis means that you may be CPU limited, so you may want to do some mild overclocking. Once you fill out the survey we can go from there.

 

[Lion]

Hey guys I found this on a website and thought I should ask before jumping on it:

I want a great gaming pc and my budget is around $700. I figured I should ask since they might be wanting to sell me their stuff instead of the best parts available (even though they do explain why they pick each of these parts). So my question is, is that alright for my budget?

Thanks

Edit: I dont intend to overclock or anything like that.

 

[StarlordDial]

Do you all know who Carey Holzman is on Youtube? If you don't, he makes PC building videos. I was surprised to see him make a video for Newegg. Months ago, he made a video complaining about how he received a few used power supplies from them after buying brand new ones. He complained and gave out the number of the head of customer service on the video. Hours or a few days later, the video was taken down. Never mentioned again. Now, he is making build videos for them lol. Not suggesting they payed him off, just kind of funny or interesting.

Mannn i'm actually subscribed to him .. He was probably one of the guys that I always watch to get ideas and instructions of building a pc back a year or two ago

he's very chill and relaxed when he does his build a pc stuff on his channel

Glad to see him in newegg though even after the debacle that happened

 

[Dewoh]

Hey, welcome to the thread. The best thing you can do is fill out the survey in the OP so we can put together a build for you. SLI 980 Tis means that you may be CPU limited, so you may want to do some mild overclocking. Once you fill out the survey we can go from there.

Will do!

Your Current Specs: CPU / RAM / Motherboard / GPU (Graphics) / PSU (Power Supply) / Case / HDD (Hard Drive) I have a power supply. That's it. 1000w.
Budget: $2k-2.5k. BUT - that doesn't mean I want to blow money on stuff I don't need. I don't need an insane fully bdazzled mobo, case, and cpu. I want what will actually be of use.
Main Use: Gaming!
Monitor Resolution: Will hook it up to my 4k tv. So as much 4k, as possible, but am well aware that I'll be running most games at 1080p.
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: Is 30FPS acceptable? 60? 120? How important is PhysX / SuperSampling / CUDA to you? Looking to reuse any parts?: 60 fps is pretty damn important to me. I plan on getting a gsync monitor in the future, and will jump back and forth between that at the tv.
When will you build?: Do you have a deadline? As soon as possible.
Will you be overclocking?: No? Never done it, and have terrible luck messing with electronics so would rather not.

And if it matters, I'm an Intel/Nvidia guy.

 

[opticalmace]

Will do!

Your Current Specs: CPU / RAM / Motherboard / GPU (Graphics) / PSU (Power Supply) / Case / HDD (Hard Drive) I have a power supply. That's it. 1000w.
Budget: $2k-2.5k.
Main Use: Gaming!
Monitor Resolution: Will hook it up to my 4k tv. So as much 4k, as possible, but am well aware that I'll be running most games at 1080p.
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: Is 30FPS acceptable? 60? 120? How important is PhysX / SuperSampling / CUDA to you? Looking to reuse any parts?: 60 fps is pretty damn important to me. I plan on getting a gsync monitor in the future, and will jump back and forth between that at the tv.
When will you build?: Do you have a deadline? As soon as possible.
Will you be overclocking?: No? Never done it, and have terrible luck messing with electronics so would rather not.

And if it matters, I'm an Intel/Nvidia guy.

Okay, we can definitely work something out for you. I'm on mobile so I can't chime in yet but I would go 6700k for sure.

One thing that would help, what exact model is your power supply?

 

[『Inaba Resident』]

I intended on buying the parts for my PC today but I noticed that the ram is now sold out everywhere. What would be a suitable replacement for it that would be compatible with my build?

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Pareema 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 380 4GB NITRO Dual-X OC Video Card
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)


Would this be ok? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00569K7LM/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[Dewoh]

Okay, we can definitely work something out for you. I'm on mobile so I can't chime in yet but I would go 6700k for sure.

One thing that would help, what exact model is your power supply?

It's a bit older, but it's an antec 1000w psu. Still works like a champ, so I'd like to reuse it.

And, if it changes thing, I'd like a mobo with wifi (and decent sound) so I'm leaning towards one of the Asus X-99s. Why wifi? Because my internet router will be a room away, and running a cable just isn't a possibility.

Thanks!

 

[CreepingFear]

Mannn i'm actually subscribed to him .. He was probably one of the guys that I always watch to get ideas and instructions of building a pc back a year or two ago

he's very chill and relaxed when he does his build a pc stuff on his channel

Glad to see him in newegg though even after the debacle that happened

I credit him for getting me in the IT field. I got an A+ certification because of him and an IT job.

 

[the21O]

I'd recommend coming back to us about a week or two before you plan to buy and build. I can give you a parts list as a example and general guideline, but the prices will be out of date by the time you are ready to build. Will you be using a dualshock 4 with your PC or will the budget for your new PC also have to include a controller? Will you need the PC to have wifi connectivity? Will you also need a copy of Windows?

When you upgrade to a 4K display, you will also need to upgrade the graphics card to give you decent framerates for 4K gaming. Keeping that in mind, I'll recommend a decent graphics card for 1080p60 gameplay for now.

Here's an example build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock B85M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($62.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX200 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($62.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($319.98 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($34.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $818.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-14 22:30 EST-0500

I will use my ds4 if its a viable option that doesn't require a lot of tweaking on my end. I see a lot of complaints about the ds4's pc support on the board. I'd like controller recommendations but it wont come from the PC budget. I will also need a new copy of windows. I think I'd like more info on the cheap keys I saw mentioned in the thread.
If I increased my budget to from $900 to $1000 would it make much of a difference? What about increasing the size of the case to a midtower? It looks like I maybe able to purchase this week. Thanks

 

[RGM79]

OK!

I'll use the template provided in the OP

Your Current Specs: 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM (2.40GHz 6MB Cache) / Unknown / Motherboard / NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX660M 2GB with DirectX® 11 / Unknown
Basically...it's a Lenovo Y580 Laptop and it kept crashing on high end gaming like Borderlands and TF2.
Budget: $1000-$1200 + USA
Main Use: Rate 1-5. 5 being Highest: 4-5? Streaming games in HD on Twitch. Gaming to Emulation? General Usage.
Monitor Resolution: I'm not entirely sure on resolution, I just want to be able to play fullscreen. So I guess I'm flexible?
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: Dark Souls III, Skyrim, Borderlands the Prequel. 30 FPS is acceptable. How important is PhysX / SuperSampling / CUDA to you? Kind of important.
Looking to reuse any parts?: No.
When will you build?: N/A
Will you be overclocking?: Maybe?

Sorry, I know nothing of the world of PC building. The only tech things I figured out is how to stream on Twitch... ~~

Oh, you meant you want us to find you a good deal on a prebuilt PC. Not many of the thread regulars check prebuilt PC vendors for deals, I'm afraid. I thought you already had a question that you wanted to ask us, like "is this prebuilt a good deal?" or "what is this PC worth?".

I think one of the better things you can do is check the compurter category slickdeals forum, they occasionally post deals on prebuilt PCs. For example, there's this thread on prebuilt PCs from Staples. They tend to post more laptop deals than desktop deals, but they still post desktop deals.

Dumb question: I've got a set of stereo speakers that connect to my PC via an auxiliary cable.

My pc connects to my monitor via HDMI, and my monitor has an auxiliary port. HDMI carries audio.

Is it better to have it plugged into my PC or my monitor? Is there any difference?

The way you have it set up right now is fine. Having it pass through your HDMI monitor just makes it unnecessarily complicated.