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[JoeyJungle]

Any thoughts on the Gigabyte G1 Z170 Gaming 7? I have a Gigabyte 970GTX and am unsure if there is ANY perks to staying within brand on use. That or MSI are my current considerations for my i7-6700k chip.

That's the one I have, it would randomly fail to post when I first got it, but the most recent stable BIOS update fixed that problem. Other than that I haven't had any issues. Remember to change the FCLK to 1000mhz after updating bios(default is clocked to 800mhz, intel's recommended for laptops. Desktop is recommended to 1000mhz. Almost all mobos shipped at 800mhz). Option is only available in the most recent bios.

Oh also exiting bios without saving changes will cause it to fail to post. Apparently this is a known issue that has been around for a while. You get an error screen -> go into bios with current settings -> save and exit and it will boot correctly. Not really a problem, just makes exit without saving a 5 step process.

 

[Massa]

I can't believe I'm asking this, but what's a good colorimeter? I just got a new monitor

Haven't used it myself but I heard good things about ColorHUG.

 

[e90Mark]

So I've had it with my Asus Maximus board the last few days. Trying to verify what is going on with this thing and why it refuses to POST has left me drained and at my wits end. I am just going to send it back to Amazon before the refund period closes and get a different brand (regardless if my new RAM works or not tonight). The Asus forums are rife with a massive thread detailing users experiencing the same issues as me.

Any thoughts on the Gigabyte G1 Z170 Gaming 7? I have a Gigabyte 970GTX and am unsure if there is ANY perks to staying within brand on use. That or MSI are my current considerations for my i7-6700k chip.

Also, when I swap the Mobo should I reinstall Win 10 all over again? I only just installed it 2 weeks back with the Asus mobo, so my OEM key is already used, but I assume Windows will require me to jump through hoops to prove that it is the same PC if I keep the current installation. Just unsure what to anticipate or what is recommended when swapping mobo on Win 10(I shouldn't have to purchase ANOTHER OEM key right??)

Finally, how problematic will it be to use different branded DDR4 RAM? Assuming my ASUS board is at fault for all my POST-less boot issues and not the RAM, I would now have a set of Kingston and Corsair(with similar timings 2666 vs 3000) that would be nice to pair together in the Mobo, but I fear problems with multiple brands.

Love to hear thoughts and sorry for the long rant. Sorry Asus, two-weeks of barely any use and the extreme errors I have gotten out of the blue are enough!!!

My Skylake build has given me the most issues by far, but of course could just be a coincidence. You are not alone. Makes me feel a bit better about skipping on the VIII Gene board.

I have the Gaming 5, and it's been generally solid, barring RAM compatibility issues and my first board being DOA on DIMM 1 and 2.

After you get set up, I would just boot into Windows and see if its giving you a problem with activation or not and go from there.

Personally, having swapped motherboards on my Windows 10 install, it didn't say anything after the fact.

That's the one I have, it would randomly fail to post when I first got it, but the most recent stable BIOS update fixed that problem. Other than that I haven't had any issues. Remember to change the FCLK to 1000mhz after updating bios(default is clocked to 800mhz, intel's recommended for laptops. Desktop is recommended to 1000mhz. Almost all mobos shipped at 800mhz). Option is only available in the most recent bios.

Oh also exiting bios without saving changes will cause it to fail to post. Apparently this is a known issue that has been around for a while. You get an error screen -> go into bios with current settings -> save and exit and it will boot correctly. Not really a problem, just makes exit without saving a 5 step process.

This is good to know. I did not know this.

 

[Brandon F]

As far as this goes as long as the timings and pins/type are the same there shouldn't be a problem

That's the one I have, it would randomly fail to post when I first got it, but the most recent stable BIOS update fixed that problem. Other than that I haven't had any issues. Remember to change the FCLK to 1000mhz after updating bios(default is clocked to 800mhz, intel's recommended for laptops. Desktop is recommended to 1000mhz. Almost all mobos shipped at 800mhz). Option is only available in the most recent bios.

Oh also exiting bios without saving changes will cause it to fail to post. Apparently this is a known issue that has been around for a while. You get an error screen -> go into bios with current settings -> save and exit and it will boot correctly. Not really a problem, just makes exit without saving a 5 step process.

My Skylake build has given me the most issues by far, but of course could just be a coincidence. You are not alone. Makes me feel a bit better about skipping on the VIII Gene board.

I have the Gaming 5, and it's been generally solid, barring RAM compatibility issues and my first board being DOA on DIMM 1 and 2.

After you get set up, I would just boot into Windows and see if its giving you a problem with activation or not and go from there.

Personally, having swapped motherboards on my Windows 10 install, it didn't say anything after the fact.

This is good to know. I did not know this.

Thanks all! I just bought the Gigabyte board at work. Even if I eventually correct the ASUS mobo issues I am having, my faith in the product is just at severe low given how new and indeterminable my problems have been.

Not seeing quite as many complaints with Skylake users on the Gigabyte board as ASUS is seeing(supposedly even the newest ASUS mobo drivers have been even worse...ugh).

I'll update with how the Gigabyte install goes, just in time(hopefully) to play Rise of the Tomb Raider.

 

[NIN90]

I'm thinking about upgrading my i5 3450 CPU and I'm looking for suggestions for the whole CPU+MB+RAM shebang.
I'm honestly not quite sure what my budget is. I do have cash to spare but I wanna keep it reasonable, y'know? Maybe up to 500€ as a baseline?
The CPU would be primarily used for gaming at 1080p in conjunction with a 970 card. Overclocking capabilities would be a nice option as well.

 

[Burgess_101]

So I am looking for an external bluray drive, what should I be looking out for? Does USB3 matter (probably won't be burning discs).

I will mainly just be using it to play my blu rays.

Preferably Amazon UK, as I get 5% student discount and Prime.

 

[bomblord1]

So I am looking for an external bluray drive, what should I be looking out for? Does USB3 matter (probably won't be burning discs).

I will mainly just be using it to play my blu rays.

USB 3.0 is always better but I'm certain a 2.0 port can handle a 1080p 24fps stream.

 

[RGM79]

Hey PCtechGAF,
I have this fairly old PC (i5 2500k @4,4GHz/GeForce 560ti/8GB DDR3 RAM 1600MHz). The plan was to upgrade it when the next series of GPUs come out. My video card died this morning though, so right now I'm not sure what to do.

Should I get a budget card and wait till September for a proper replacement, or should I just get a GTX 970 now and be done with it?
I'm more inclined towards the first option, because I'm bothered by the idea of paying near full price for a card when we're so close to the launch of a new series... but I'm also worried my CPU might be a bottleneck for future mid-high end cards.

Well, you need a new graphics card, so you need a new graphics card. You could opt for a cheaper model if you don't want to pay that much for a GTX 970, but you could always consider selling the GTX 970 when the time comes and Pascal becomes something you really want.

I don't think there's too many games that the i5 2500K could be considered a bottleneck in. It's still quite decent when overclocked and shouldn't have trouble attaining 60FPS in most game, assuming the graphics card is also capable of it.

 

[LilJoka]

I overclocked my i5-4670K to 4.0Ghz and did 10 runs (High) with IntelBurnTest.

Results:

Baby steps? 3.8Ghz Turbo, so i call that a 200Mhz OC
Was that the lowest VCore for stability?
Cooling?
4.4Ghz?

I meant to write unallocated space, can files be in those partitions?

I have worked with computers for a long time and I have never had this happen to me before. It is a learning experience I guess.

Definitely can be, just scan the whole drive.

Could someone recommend a good LGA-1151 Mini-ITX Mobo for around ~$120?

Asus Z170I is the one i bought. The only thing it doesnt have is bluetooth 4.2, think it has one revision older.Other than that one of the best boards.

 

[RGM79]

Sorry guys, I'd try to answer more questions but I am pressed for time today, won't be able to get back to you guys until maybe late tonight or tomorrow.

What are the easiest and best ways to reduce noise coming from my case? I record myself on a microphone and I need complete silence in the room.

I have a Fractal R3, so it already comes with sound-absorbing foam, but it's nowhere near enough. Any suggestions?

A silent PC case doesn't do much if the components inside aren't silent. What are your PC's specs, and what do you think is making the most noise? Case fans? CPU fan? Graphics card fan?

Maybe you just need to put more distance between you and the PC.

I'm thinking about upgrading my i5 3450 CPU and I'm looking for suggestions for the whole CPU+MB+RAM shebang.
I'm honestly not quite sure what my budget is. I do have cash to spare but I wanna keep it reasonable, y'know? Maybe up to 500€ as a baseline?
The CPU would be primarily used for gaming at 1080p in conjunction with a 970 card. Overclocking capabilities would be a nice option as well.

What country are you in?

 

[Burgess_101]

Definitely can be, just scan the whole drive.

I have almost finished copying the files off now. I lost some files but nothing that isn't easy to get back. I was worrying about losing family photos but luckily we have a back up of those.

I was wondering, after all this is done do I just format the drive and start again or is the HDD done for? I presume not, just making sure though.

 

[NIN90]

What country are you in?

I'm located in Germany.

 

[bomblord1]

Baby steps? 3.8Ghz Turbo, so i call that a 200Mhz OC
Was that the lowest VCore for stability?
Cooling?
4.4Ghz?



Definitely can be, just scan the whole drive.



Asus Z170I is the one i bought. The only thing it doesnt have is bluetooth 4.2, think it has one revision older.Other than that one of the best boards.

Looks nice but it's the same price as an MSI one with bluetooth 4.2

 

[JoeyJungle]

Haven't used it myself but I heard good things about ColorHUG.

Looks like that's pretty costly to get outside of the EU :\. I'm in the US

This is good to know. I did not know this.

Yeah there was an Anandtech article about it, I don't recall why but most mobo manufacturers went with the laptop recommendation at launch. This is also why Skylake performed 2-3% worse than older processors in Anandtech's discrete graphics benchmarks. They should eventually change it to 1000mhz default through bios updates, but right now on some boards (like the Gigabyte Gaming 7) you need to update the bios to have the option to adjust FCLK, and then change manually change it to 1000mhz.

 

[LilJoka]

I have almost finished copying the files off now. I lost some files but nothing that isn't easy to get back. I was worrying about losing family photos but luckily we have a back up of those.

I was wondering, after all this is done do I just format the drive and start again or is the HDD done for? I presume not, just making sure though.

I would check the SMART attributes first. Then if its ok, format and copy everything back, ie hammer the drive for a bit and see if its stays alive.

Looks nice but it's the same price as an MSI one with bluetooth 4.2

Well the Asus fits a full size M.2 SSD and has better overclocking, thats about it. Overclocking potential was my prioity, i dont use bluetooth.

 

[Burgess_101]

I would check the SMART attributes first. Then if its ok, format and copy everything back, ie hammer the drive for a bit and see if its stays alive.



Well the Asus fits a full size M.2 SSD and has better overclocking, thats about it. Overclocking potential was my prioity, i dont use bluetooth.

It is not playing ball and I can't be bothered to sort it out, the partition wasn't extending so I was missing 1TB.

Just getting it replaced by Amazon. Should be here Friday.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[QuantumSquid]

Yo RGM... I'm exploring my options and I found the GTX 750Ti, and from the benchmarks I'm looking at, it can run the games I want to play on Medium at 60fps at 1080p.

And it's $105 on Amazon right now.

Here's a build list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($41.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin ECO2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($128.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $459.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-27 17:02 EST-0500

What would you change about this build to make it better for the price? I'm thinking the i5-4460 might be overkill to pair with a 750Ti but I'm not sure.

 

[Alastor3]

Quick question, I don't plan to change computer right away, but my specs are intel core 2duo 2,8go, 4RAM ddr2, GT9800.

If I want to change my DDR2 to get 8Go, and since I will change computer someday, can I just buy 2X4go of DDR4 (instead of buying 4go of DDR2 again since it's obsolete) and just change it for my new computer when I will build it?

Im asking because I don't know if my system can run DDR4 ? I don't know anything about computer XD

 

[Burkatron81]

This doesn't seem right, for that budget you definitely should get a pc with a decent gpu and cpu.
If you're not afraid of getting a good used pc 2nd hand you can get way better parts than new.
You don't even need to build it, just look for a pc for a pc with an i5 cpu and a decent gpu on sites like craigslist.

I really can't help you choosing the parts because I live in Europe.

Exactly my thoughts, though my knowledge is limited beyond the basics. I know for sure he wants to buy new, needs that warranty to rely on.

Seems like a lot of money. You could certainly get something that performs better and is much more "future-proof" than that, for example:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£164.99 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Asus B150M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£65.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£71.82 @ More Computers)
Storage: Crucial BX200 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card (£89.99 @ Novatech)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£28.50 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£44.17 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£12.98 @ Novatech)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£74.94 @ Aria PC)
Total: £603.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-27 14:42 GMT+0000

You could even get rid of the graphics card for now and get a better board or an aftermarket CPU cooler. If you decided to get Windows via Reddit (see RGM's disclaimer regarding buying a Windows licence via Reddit) you could save even more or put that towards improvements.

Already I have found the cpu at a more respectable £122.69 & £4.14 shipping at Play Asia and I’m sure it could be the same for other parts. The savings could potentially help fund higher grade hardware. Thank you for giving me a good base, I’m sure my buddy will appreciate the time taken to knock this up.

 

[QuantumSquid]

Quick question, I don't plan to change computer right away, but my specs are intel core 2duo 2,8go, 4RAM ddr2, GT9800.

If I want to change my DDR2 to get 8Go, and since I will change computer someday, can I just buy 2X4go of DDR4 (instead of buying 4go of DDR2 again since it's obsolete) and just change it for my new computer when I will build it?

Im asking because I don't know if my system can run DDR4 ? I don't know anything about computer XD

I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure old motherboards don't support DDR4 RAM.

 

[Alastor3]

I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure old motherboards don't support DDR4 RAM.

god damn DDR3 maybe ?

 

[kennah]

Quick question, I don't plan to change computer right away, but my specs are intel core 2duo 2,8go, 4RAM ddr2, GT9800.

If I want to change my DDR2 to get 8Go, and since I will change computer someday, can I just buy 2X4go of DDR4 (instead of buying 4go of DDR2 again since it's obsolete) and just change it for my new computer when I will build it?

Im asking because I don't know if my system can run DDR4 ? I don't know anything about computer XD

Ram is not backwards compatible. You would need to find ddr2. And you would likely need to find it used.

 

[Kilrogg]

A silent PC case doesn't do much if the components inside aren't silent. What are your PC's specs, and what do you think is making the most noise? Case fans? CPU fan? Graphics card fan?

Maybe you just need to put more distance between you and the PC.

I have an i5-3570K with a Radeon HD6800. The fans are just the case/CPU/GPU stock fans. Could be the CPU or GPU fan I guess. Any idea what I can do to reduce noise on those?

 

[Onemic]

That's a pretty good price for an IPS monitor and reviews are excellent. Otherwise if you're interested in a larger monitor, there's this Asus VN248H-P ($111) which offers 23.8" of screen size for $11 more compared to that AOC's 21.5" screen. It is also an IPS monitor and if you look at the Newegg link, reviews are similarly excellent after a few hundred reviews.


As far as I can find, it's because the R9 270 cannot do that with a passive Displayport cable adaptor as it has technical limitations. Apparently it only allows a third monitor with an active displayport adaptor which is as you can guess, more expensive than a simple passive one. See the AMD Eyefinity FAQ here and examples of active DP cables here.

Thanks. Returned the cable and got an active adapter. Now it works perfectly

 

[Stylo]

Sorry to ask (I'm new to PC building), but I'm wondering what is better between the GTX 970 and R9 390. I've been trying to research which of the two to go with but a lot of this stuff is going over my head. Also, can anyone recommend good brands for PSUs? Sorry to ask these dumb questions .__.;

 

[QuantumSquid]

Sorry to ask (I'm new to PC building), but I'm wondering what is better between the GTX 970 and R9 390. I've been trying to research which of the two to go with but a lot of this stuff is going over my head. Also, can anyone recommend good brands for PSUs? Sorry to ask these dumb questions .__.;

They're pretty comparable. The R9 390 is better in terms of raw power but Nvidia makes up for it by having a chokehold on major developers to optimize their games to run better on their graphics cards. As a result, certain games like GTA V and the upcoming Overwatch run significantly better on the GTX 970 than they do on the R9 390. Certain other games run better on the 390, but these games are often less popular than the games Nvidia partners up with the developers of.

The most notable difference between the GTX 970 and the R9 390 is the power consumption; namely, the GTX 970 is considerably more power efficient, while the R9 390 needs a whole load more wattage in comparison. If electricity is expensive where you live, this should be a factor in your purchasing decision.

Two good PSU brands are SeaSonic and EVGA. You will need a higher watt PSU if you choose to go with the R9 390 for the reasons mentioned in the previous paragraph.

 

[Hands of Stone]

I'm using an Asus VH242H I bought a couple of years back, and while it's still in great condition I was interested in maybe upgrading.

What's are some recommended monitors? I'm looking to spend $200 at most.

 

[Firestorm]

It's good to hear that they're pretty reliable. If I'm buying a SSD and HDD, will they know to automatically install the OS on the SSD?

Yeah, they're tech-savvy obviously so they'd know to do this. You could put it in the notes too as I think they have one of those.

 

[theRizzle]

So a couple weeks ago I posted about my new rig and one of the SATA ports not working. I'll get to the issue with the SATA port in a second, but here's the parts:



CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 ITX
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3000 Memory
SSD: Samsung 950 M.2 PCIe x4 256gb
HDD1: WD Black 6tb
HDD2: WD Red 6tb
HDD3: WD Red 6tb
HDD4: WD Red 6tb
HDD5: WD Red 6tb
ODD: Pioneer BDR-2209 Bluray Writer
Video Card: ASUS GTX 970 DCMOC (the short one)
Case: Bitfenix Prodigy Black
Power Supply: Silverstone 650w 120mm Modular
OS: Windows 10

Total Cost: Over $4,000 CDN


Yes, that is 30tb of HDDs. They were the reason why I chose that motherboard in particular. As with all my builds (can't believe after 15 years I've never had ONE bad part), I had zero real issues - I mentioned the Samsung 950 slow boot times here and saw a couple people echo it, but I can deal with it for - and got the system up and running.

Well, up and running except for one of the HDDs. No matter which drive or cable I plugged into the SATA3_5 port, I just couldn't get it to be recognized. I figured I just had a faulty port, probably from physical damage. I wrote to Gigabyte and explained the situation, figuring I'd not get much other than the RMA process started. Lo and behold, I was actually given a helpful and informed response.

Turns out, because of the M.2 SSD the motherboard is "reserving" the SATA port/lane to ensure transfer speeds (?) for PCIe drives. Their customer service rep suggested I check the M.2 section of the manual and sure enough, it reads:

Here's my question:

Since I am actually not using those 4 WD Reds in a RAID configuration, can I go back to AHCI without any serious issues/performance loss? Or data loss? If I recall correctly (and it's entirely possible I don't), you had to do a full reinstall of Win 7 if you wanted to switch between the AHCI and RAID driver. A full reformat is out of the question for me at the moment as I'm not in a position to be able to redownload all the OS updates. I did some quick google skimming and it looks like there's an article on Overclock.net forums about this exact thing using a regedit, but looks like there's only instructions for Win 7 and 8.

Has anyone had to do this before? I'm just looking for some advice before I go down this road... like if you tried this and because you did it your PC grew to 100 times it's size which created a sinkhole and then plummeted to the depths of hell, that's something I would like to know before I take this on.

 

[Cute Dragon Here]

What do you guys think of the higher-end Logitech stuff for mice? Was thinking I should get a more comfy mouse than the one supplied in the MK520r, and the mouse I usually use (Razer Orochi) for my laptop before I built a desktop has a cable too short for desktop use and runs off Bluetooth, so it won't help.

 

[theRizzle]

What do you guys think of the higher-end Logitech stuff for mice? Was thinking I should get a more comfy mouse than the one supplied in the MK520r, and the mouse I usually use (Razer Orochi) for my laptop before I built a desktop has a cable too short for desktop use and runs off Bluetooth, so it won't help.

I have been using a G9x since 2012 and I might literally cry when it doesn't work anymore. I will never buy another mouse that doesn't have on the fly adjustable sensitivity. I also really like the custom weights, but it's not like I am changing the weight regularly. I tried a few different weights when I first got it and found something I liked and haven't looked back.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

the mouse I usually use (Razer Orochi) for my laptop before I built a desktop has a cable too short for desktop use and runs off Bluetooth, so it won't help.

Could always get a USB extension cord for a few bucks.

 

[terrdactycalsrock]

Im looking at getting a new CPU. Every time I see the recommended specs on a game, it makes me feel real bad about my non-unlocked i5. My motherboard accepts the Haswell generation of processors, and while I would just also like to upgrade my motherboard as well, thats just to much money. Judging by the recommended parts list in the OP it looks like my best bet is the i7-4790K. However, its 4 cores and 8 threads. That doesnt sound to great because my i5-4570 already has 4 cores. Yeah, I understand that it has double the amount of threads, but is that going to make a huge difference? From what I can tell I need more cores, because thats what the consoles have. But I really cant justify spending 115 on a new motherboard, and an additional 375 for a i7 5820K 6C/12T. Would upgrading to a 4790k meet these recommended specs that are coming out?

 

[kennah]

Im looking at getting a new CPU. Every time I see the recommended specs on a game, it makes me feel real bad about my non-unlocked i5. My motherboard accepts the Haswell generation of processors, and while I would just also like to upgrade my motherboard as well, thats just to much money. Judging by the recommended parts list in the OP it looks like my best bet is the i7-4790K. However, its 4 cores and 8 threads. That doesnt sound to great because my i5-4570 already has 4 cores. Yeah, I understand that it has double the amount of threads, but is that going to make a huge difference? From what I can tell I need more cores, because thats what the consoles have. But I really cant justify spending 115 on a new motherboard, and an additional 375 for a i7 5820K 6C/12T. Would upgrading to a 4790k meet these recommended specs that are coming out?

Keep what you have, upgrade when it starts to feel slow. You should be good for a couple years. Don't stress about it.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

So I've spent the evening trying to overclock my gtx970. It's not a special overclocking version or anything, but it runs very cool and I figured it was worth a try.

As most guides say, I raised the clockspeed in small increments and looked for artifacts each time. I never found any, and eventually reached a point where I hard crashed my computer. I then moved the clock speed down to a point where I could run the benchmark for at least ~20 minutes without anything crashing.

That was when I noticed the artifacts. Small white dots, a bit bigger than a pixel but not by too much. I had to take a video with my phone to make sure they weren't my imagination.

I moved the clockspeed down further, and the dots were still there. Then, as I test, I reset to stick speeds, and... the dots didn't go away.

Did I fry my card? Will they go away after my gpu has a chance to rest? How do I proceed?

 

[JoeyJungle]

So I've spent the evening trying to overclock my gtx970. It's not a special overclocking version or anything, but it runs very cool and I figured it was worth a try.

As most guides say, I raised the clockspeed in small increments and looked for artifacts each time. I never found any, and eventually reached a point where I hard crashed my computer. I then moved the clock speed down to a point where I could run the benchmark for at least ~20 minutes without anything crashing.

That was when I noticed the artifacts. Small white dots, a bit bigger than a pixel but not by too much. I had to take a video with my phone to make sure they weren't my imagination.

I moved the clockspeed down further, and the dots were still there. Then, as I test, I reset to stick speeds, and... the dots didn't go away.

Did I fry my card? Will they go away after my gpu has a chance to rest? How do I proceed?

Something similar happened to me, I just turned the computer off and a couple hours later everything was fine.

 

[Chris_C]

Yo RGM... I'm exploring my options and I found the GTX 750Ti, and from the benchmarks I'm looking at, it can run the games I want to play on Medium at 60fps at 1080p.

And it's $105 on Amazon right now.

Here's a build list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($41.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin ECO2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($128.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $459.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-27 17:02 EST-0500

What would you change about this build to make it better for the price? I'm thinking the i5-4460 might be overkill to pair with a 750Ti but I'm not sure.

I'm not a "PC Builder Pro" but I thought I'd offer my opnion based on experiences. Depending on how long you want this PC to last, you might want to consider a K series processor, which will allow you to overclock in the future.

I built my current PC about 3 years ago using an i5 4570, and it's my only regret. I wish I'd paid a little more for the K series.

... that said, with my 970 I can still pretty much get 1080p/60 on almost all new games at close to max settings. I just feel as though the processor will likely let me down before anything else does, and for just a little bit more I would have been future proofed for longer.

 

[knitoe]

So a couple weeks ago I posted about my new rig and one of the SATA ports not working. I'll get to the issue with the SATA port in a second, but here's the parts:



CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 ITX
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3000 Memory
SSD: Samsung 950 M.2 PCIe x4 256gb
HDD1: WD Black 6tb
HDD2: WD Red 6tb
HDD3: WD Red 6tb
HDD4: WD Red 6tb
HDD5: WD Red 6tb
ODD: Pioneer BDR-2209 Bluray Writer
Video Card: ASUS GTX 970 DCMOC (the short one)
Case: Bitfenix Prodigy Black
Power Supply: Silverstone 650w 120mm Modular
OS: Windows 10

Total Cost: Over $4,000 CDN


Yes, that is 30tb of HDDs. They were the reason why I chose that motherboard in particular. As with all my builds (can't believe after 15 years I've never had ONE bad part), I had zero real issues - I mentioned the Samsung 950 slow boot times here and saw a couple people echo it, but I can deal with it for - and got the system up and running.

Well, up and running except for one of the HDDs. No matter which drive or cable I plugged into the SATA3_5 port, I just couldn't get it to be recognized. I figured I just had a faulty port, probably from physical damage. I wrote to Gigabyte and explained the situation, figuring I'd not get much other than the RMA process started. Lo and behold, I was actually given a helpful and informed response.

Turns out, because of the M.2 SSD the motherboard is "reserving" the SATA port/lane to ensure transfer speeds (?) for PCIe drives. Their customer service rep suggested I check the M.2 section of the manual and sure enough, it reads:

Here's my question:

Since I am actually not using those 4 WD Reds in a RAID configuration, can I go back to AHCI without any serious issues/performance loss? Or data loss? If I recall correctly (and it's entirely possible I don't), you had to do a full reinstall of Win 7 if you wanted to switch between the AHCI and RAID driver. A full reformat is out of the question for me at the moment as I'm not in a position to be able to redownload all the OS updates. I did some quick google skimming and it looks like there's an article on Overclock.net forums about this exact thing using a regedit, but looks like there's only instructions for Win 7 and 8.

Has anyone had to do this before? I'm just looking for some advice before I go down this road... like if you tried this and because you did it your PC grew to 100 times it's size which created a sinkhole and then plummeted to the depths of hell, that's something I would like to know before I take this on.

Sorry, I can't help you about about changing from Raid to AHCI, but the reason you have slow boot is because the more HDD have, the longer boot time will be. Windows seems to take a certain amount of time to initialize each drive during startup. Disconnect your HDDs and you will see much faster boot. And, why do you want to switch to AHCI? A HDD runs just fine even though the MB is set for RAID.

 

[EVA UNIT 01]

So gaf ill be ordering my parts tonite.
Bomblords setup for me is still looking good but does anyone else want to give this PC first timer another build for options sake?
Again my goal is 1080/60 on pretty much anything out today. (High settings)
Gaming and emulation being my top uses.(ps2/GC). Definitely want to run mods.

My budget is $850. I have a monitor but want an OS and dvd drive included.
Ive been reccommended a 970 alot but it isnt a requirement, however if someone can manage that on $850 then by all means.

 

[bomblord1]

So gaf ill be ordering my parts tonite.
Bomblords setup for me is still looking good but does anyone else want to give this PC first timer another build for options sake?
Again my goal is 1080/60 on pretty much anything out today. (High settings)
Gaming and emulation being my top uses.(ps2/GC). Definitely want to run mods.

My budget is $850. I have a monitor but want an OS and dvd drive included.
Ive been reccommended a 970 alot but it isnt a requirement, however if someone can manage that on $850 then by all means.

Someone in the Buy Sell Trade Thread is selling one for $280 if you're willing to go used.

If you repost the build I can look it back over and see if I can fit one in the budget if you are dead set on it. I could probably get a few worse parts if you have no interest in oc'ing or upgrading to more power hungry components in the future.

Edit: Here's a 970 build that's at your budget ceiling with a slightly worse CPU and optical drive (without OS which is another $100)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($183.88 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: *MSI Z170-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($39.95 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($305.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($36.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.78 @ OutletPC)
Total: $842.33
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-27 22:45 EST-0500

 

[EVA UNIT 01]

Someone in the Buy Sell Trade Thread is selling one for $280 if you're willing to go used.

If you repost the build I can look it back over and see if I can fit one in the budget if you are dead set on it. I could probably get a few worse parts if you have no interest in oc'ing or upgrading to more power hungry components in the future.

Ill edit with the build.
No interest in overclocking(this new guy has no idea lol)
I have no interest in any of the following:
4k support
VR support
OC

Just 1080/60 for my first build with mods and emulation.




PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor($199.98 @ OutletPC) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: *MSI Z170-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($44.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($39.95 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 380 4GB Video Card($233.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case($36.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US) 
Total: $791.73
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-26 15:48 EST-0500

 

[opticalmace]

So gaf ill be ordering my parts tonite.
Bomblords setup for me is still looking good but does anyone else want to give this PC first timer another build for options sake?
Again my goal is 1080/60 on pretty much anything out today. (High settings)
Gaming and emulation being my top uses.(ps2/GC). Definitely want to run mods.

My budget is $850. I have a monitor but want an OS and dvd drive included.
Ive been reccommended a 970 alot but it isnt a requirement, however if someone can manage that on $850 then by all means.

Link to his build?

I see RGM's, which is very nice. Manages to fit a 970 into a pretty inexpensive build.

 

[EVA UNIT 01]

Link to his build?

I see RGM's, which is very nice. Manages to fit a 970 into a pretty inexpensive build.

See my above post

 

[theRizzle]

Sorry, I can't help you about about changing from Raid to AHCI, but the reason you have slow boot is because the more HDD have, the longer boot time will be. Windows seems to take a certain amount of time to initialize each drive during startup. Disconnect your HDDs and you will see much faster boot. And, why do you want to switch to AHCI? A HDD runs just fine even though the MB is set for RAID.

Because like I explained in my post, one of my SATA ports doesn't work because of the M.2 drive I have.

 

[QuantumSquid]

I would go for RGM's build, a 970 will do your performance more good than a Skylake processor and DDR4 RAM will.

 

[bomblord1]

Ill edit with the build.
No interest in overclocking(this new guy has no idea lol)
I have no interest in any of the following:
4k support
VR support
OC

Just 1080/60 for my first build with mods and emulation.




PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor($199.98 @ OutletPC) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: *MSI Z170-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($44.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($39.95 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 380 4GB Video Card($233.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case($36.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US) 
Total: $791.73
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-26 15:48 EST-0500

Sorry, see my edit

 

[Wowfunhappy]

So I've spent the evening trying to overclock my gtx970. It's not a special overclocking version or anything, but it runs very cool and I figured it was worth a try.

As most guides say, I raised the clockspeed in small increments and looked for artifacts each time. I never found any, and eventually reached a point where I hard crashed my computer. I then moved the clock speed down to a point where I could run the benchmark for at least ~20 minutes without anything crashing.

That was when I noticed the artifacts. Small white dots, a bit bigger than a pixel but not by too much. I had to take a video with my phone to make sure they weren't my imagination.

I moved the clockspeed down further, and the dots were still there. Then, as I test, I reset to stick speeds, and... the dots didn't go away.

Did I fry my card? Will they go away after my gpu has a chance to rest? How do I proceed?

Just a followup, I've realized two things:

1) These white dots always appear in the same spot in the same part of the benchmark
2) If you look closely, you can see them in Youtube videos of the demo running as well.

This has led me to the conclusion that they aren't artifacts caused by overclocking (although I'm not sure what they are—they look wrong, but I guess I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't looking so closely). :/

 

[bomblord1]

Just a followup, I've realized two things:

1) These white dots always appear in the same spot in the same part of the benchmark
2) If you look closely, you can see them in Youtube videos of the demo running as well.

This has led me to the conclusion that they aren't artifacts caused by overclocking (although I'm not sure what they are—they look wrong, but I guess I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't looking so closely). :/

That's good to hear.

 

[EVA UNIT 01]

Sorry, see my edit

Is the original CPU you had for me compatible here?
A 16$ difference is fine with me

 

[bomblord1]

Is the original CPU you had for me compatible here?
A 16$ difference is fine with me

Same motherboard so yes I was just trying to keep it from going over budget