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[Bloodember]

Waiting is the hardest part...

It feels weird ordering all this stuff knowing that I'm going to be plugging my 7870XT into it as a significant bottleneck. I just can't buy a new video card with Pascal and Polaris on the horizon.

I was telling my wife I could build a third compute and she was like why don't you sell one. I'm thinking I should now. How much do you think I can get for a dual core Celeron (old Sandy Bridge), 4 GBs of ram and an Nvidia 460 GTX. It's in the HTPC now and it actually works pretty good. You can play most last gen and some cross gen games at 1080p. Tomb Raider 2013 ran pretty good. At the very least it's a Minecraft machine. I guess there are two scenarios selling it as is with no HDD or power supply(alienates casuals). Selling it with a power supply and 100GB HDD. It would be a decent starter PC for a kid or take the 460GTX out and sell it as a internet/e-mail machine.

I don't understand the 7870XT, there's a video card in the picture of your order.

 

[Beerman462]

I don't understand the 7870XT, there's a video card in the picture of your order.

Yeah, I have a HTPC that the kids use. My old i5 2400, 8GB DDR3 and the 750Ti are going in that. I have the 460GTX in it, but I can't close the case, because I need a low profile card. The i5/750Ti will make it good enough to play current gen ports.

 

[bomblord1]

It'll fit, but that thing is tiny. It's even smaller than the stock Intel cooler. It will be able to run at idle, but I don't know about at load when gaming

Hey thanks (and thanks to another user who messaged me about it) that is what I was worried about I'll probably just have to get the cooler now and drop down to an i5 then.

 

[Celcius]

Meh, I haven't bought any pc parts in so long... maybe later this year

 

[Beerman462]

The case and fans are like the best part for me atm. I'm currently playing Rise of the Tomb Raider and I have to alt-tab out every 20 mins or so and let the GPU cool down.

 

[ghostlyspice]

OK, so I don't know if anyone will be able to help me but I can't seem to figure this out.

I bought an ASRock H97M hooked everything up but it won't detect my hard drive in the bios (I've tried to two different hard drives, one new one old.) it will detect the DVD drive, the graphics card etc. But no hard drives. Doesn't matter what SATA port I plug them in to, the DVD drive reads in all the SATA ports but the HD won't read in any of them. Doesn't sound like it's getting any power either but I've tried two different power supplies as well!

Is it possible the motherboard is defective in this way? The SATA ports clearly arent defective if it reads the DVD drive...

 

[bomblord1]

OK, so I don't know if anyone will be able to help me but I can't seem to figure this out.

I bought an ASRock H97M hooked everything up but it won't detect my hard drive in the bios (I've tried to two different hard drives, one new one old.) it will detect the DVD drive, the graphics card etc. But no hard drives. Doesn't matter what SATA port I plug them in to, the DVD drive reads in all the SATA ports but the HD won't read in any of them. Doesn't sound like it's getting any power either but I've tried two different power supplies as well!

Is it possible the motherboard is defective in this way? The SATA ports clearly arent defective if it reads the DVD drive...

1. Are you using the same SATA cable on the HDD and the DVD drive
2. Are you certain both the SATA and the power cable are firmly in place in the HDD.

If possible post a picture.

 

[ghostlyspice]

1. Are you using the same SATA cable on the HDD and the DVD drive
2. Are you certain both the SATA and the power cable are firmly in place in the HDD.

If possible post a picture.

I've tried using the same cables, yeah. When I initially thought the problem was my hard drive I went and bought a new SATA cable when I picked up the new HD, still that didn't work either. So then I thought maybe it was the power supply (lmao and of course, I go and buy a new one and still nothing!) The cables are all pushed in as far as they can go.

I've tried using the cables that are connected to the DVD drive with the HD as clearly they work, but that doesn't do anything either.

edit: I just went ahead and ordered a ASRock Z97 Extreme3 instead. There has got to be something wrong with this one.

 

[Smokey]

Any suggestions for monitor mounts?

I've got monitors in the 30'', 27'', and 23'' range. Would like something that can accommodate those sizes, although I would be running two monitors max at the above sizes.

 

[Skyfireblaze]

So I finally OC'd my 6600k. Currently stable @ 4.4 with a vcore of 1.28. Pushed my 390 to core of 1100 and memory of 1600 stable. Not sure how much more I want to go up and I'm still getting some stuttering every 15 minutes or so in the witcher 3 (I can't figure out the issue). Temp on the GPU hasn't gone above 74 and max CPU is at 53. Pretty solid.

What CPU cooler do you have if I may ask?

 

[DUFFMCWALIN]

What CPU cooler do you have if I may ask?

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cryorig-cpu-cooler-h5universal

RGM recommended it to me earlier this year. Pretty damn big but doesn't get in the way of the ram and seems to work really well. Quiet too (but I also use headphones if I'm in the room gaming and not using the steam link).

 

[Layzmaster]

Have to give a big thanks to OP. Used this thread to plan out my pc build (My first =D) works pretty damn good.

GTX970, 6600k @ a gentle 4.1GHz

Full build
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Cy9RZL

Also my first post.

 

[Joco]

Anyone have experience with Evga's RMA service? My month old 970 recently started making a buzzing noise while running games and I kind of want to send it back. Although I've read they send back refurbished products, are these usually reliable?

 

[Cerity]

Any suggestions for monitor mounts?

I've got monitors in the 30'', 27'', and 23'' range. Would like something that can accommodate those sizes, although I would be running two monitors max at the above sizes.

Desk or wall mounted? Wall mounts are easier to cheap out on IMO as the biggest issue with desk mounts are the wobble you'll encounter when you position your monitor too far from the clamp/pole.

Ergotron and Atdec are my go to's now that I've set up mounts for a few people.

 

[NaughtyPrawn]

What is the aim here:
You are looking to SLI later (why didnt you run GTX 460 SLI?)? 980Ti SLI would warrant 850W imo, and otherwise 650W would be the right amount.
If yes, ok ATX is justified, otherwise look at mATX.
Why Z series board and non-K chip, are you looking to do unofficial overclocking?
DDR4-2133 CL14-14-14 @1.2V, not brilliant, but maybe if you can get that running CL12 it would be ok. A build like this warrants 2666 CL14.
Most of your case will be empty space, might want to make it a bit more efficient in terms of case size.

The aim Is to easily be able to add a 980ti for SLI in the future. I've updated my build with some of your suggestions. Went for a K series CPU so I can overclock. Went for some faster ram and got a smaller PSU. I figured when I upgrade I'll grab a bigger PSU and another graphics card.

Does this look good to go?

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2B2zBm
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2B2zBm/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£199.96 @ More Computers)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£26.49 @ Ebuyer)

Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£120.10 @ More Computers)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£68.98 @ Amazon UK)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£129.98 @ Novatech)

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card (£504.99 @ Amazon UK)

Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£82.99 @ Novatech)

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold
Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£74.99 @ Amazon UK)

Total: £1208.48

I've already got a 2tb storage drive and I'll be getting a 1440p gsync monitor to go with it.

 

[Novum_Veritas]

Anyone have experience with Evga's RMA service? My month old 970 recently started making a buzzing noise while running games and I kind of want to send it back. Although I've read they send back refurbished products, are these usually reliable?

EVGA's RMA process is pretty good, so I heard, they're doing process pretty quickly, you should be good.

 

[knitoe]

The aim Is to easily be able to add a 980ti for SLI in the future. I've updated my build with some of your suggestions. Went for a K series CPU so I can overclock. Went for some faster ram and got a smaller PSU. I figured when I upgrade I'll grab a bigger PSU and another graphics card.

Does this look good to go?

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2B2zBm
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2B2zBm/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£199.96 @ More Computers)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£26.49 @ Ebuyer)

Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£120.10 @ More Computers)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£68.98 @ Amazon UK)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£129.98 @ Novatech)

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card (£504.99 @ Amazon UK)

Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£82.99 @ Novatech)

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold
Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£74.99 @ Amazon UK)

Total: £1208.48

I've already got a 2tb storage drive and I'll be getting a 1440p gsync monitor to go with it.

If you want to SLI, most people will recommend a 850W PSU. Personally, I would go with one even higher, like a 1000W, since PSUs are most efficient and quiet at 50-60% load.

 

[Dina]

Quick question. Do you guys think it's worth it to upgrade from an i5-2500K to the newest i5-6600K processors? I am not encountering a lot of games I can't run reasonably well, but with my new Gsync monitor and my recent dabbling in capturing video I was thinking that my 970 GTX could use a more powerful CPU friend.

This would include a new motherboard and more ram (probably a new PSU and SSD) as well, but primarily I'm wondering if it's smart to go for a new CPU. Any thoughts?

 

[Skyfireblaze]

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cryorig-cpu-cooler-h5universal

RGM recommended it to me earlier this year. Pretty damn big but doesn't get in the way of the ram and seems to work really well. Quiet too (but I also use headphones if I'm in the room gaming and not using the steam link).

Ah thanks, I'll keep this one in mind because your temps seem amazing!

 

[Shadowhaxor]

Quick question. Do you guys think it's worth it to upgrade from an i5-2500K to the newest i5-6600K processors? I am not encountering a lot of games I can't run reasonably well, but with my new Gsync monitor and my recent dabbling in capturing video I was thinking that my 970 GTX could use a more powerful CPU friend.

This would include a new motherboard and more ram (probably a new PSU and SSD) as well, but primarily I'm wondering if it's smart to go for a new CPU. Any thoughts?

If you're not encountering any issues, then it isn't warranted. Now, if you want to, then that's a different story. However if you're capturing video and looking to encode as well, you may want to look at the i7's for a little more oomph.

 

[ParityBit]

I have a Asus VG278H 27-Inch 3D Full-HD LED Monitor and I am wondering if it is even considered a decent monitor. Note: I do not have options to try/test other monitors to decide, so before I go though that exercise it would be nice to get a baseline yes/no!

I.e. I am thinking of upgrading at some point but I want to know where I should put it on my priority list.

 

[opticalmace]

I have a Asus VG278H 27-Inch 3D Full-HD LED Monitor and I am wondering if it is even considered a decent monitor. Note: I do not have options to try/test other monitors to decide, so before I go though that exercise it would be nice to get a baseline yes/no!

I.e. I am thinking of upgrading at some point but I want to know where I should put it on my priority list.

Should be fine. What's the rest of your system?

 

[Oxn]

Quick question. Do you guys think it's worth it to upgrade from an i5-2500K to the newest i5-6600K processors? I am not encountering a lot of games I can't run reasonably well, but with my new Gsync monitor and my recent dabbling in capturing video I was thinking that my 970 GTX could use a more powerful CPU friend.

This would include a new motherboard and more ram (probably a new PSU and SSD) as well, but primarily I'm wondering if it's smart to go for a new CPU. Any thoughts?

Dont bother, but if you do 6700k then maybe? But it just seems more like an upgrade itch than a real need. Besides its a 970 not a 980 Ti.

Edit: plus the fact that you need a new mobo and new ram? Not worth it at all. Just wait for a GTX 1080 if u want to upgrade.

 

[Skyfireblaze]

So I had a... interesting conversation with a friend's brother. I was shopping around for a PC upgrade for my friend since she wanted one and looked at GIGABYTE mainboards since from my experience they are a good brand to go for. Then her brother chimed in "How can you go for a GIGABYTE mainboard, they lose performance so quickly. ASUS is the single only brand to go for!"

I was stumped but couldn't but chuckle, how can a mainboard possibly "lose performance"? Will the southbridge degenerate, will the PCI-E connection melt over time? o.o

Seriously though it got me curious, I never heard of such a thing in the 20 years I use PCs, is there anything valid to his claim, is it a myth of the past or how did he get the idea that a mainboard can lose performance?

EDIT: To clarify, he meant it in the context of the PC getting slower over time when using a GIGABYTE board.

 

[bomblord1]

So I had a... interesting conversation with a friend's brother. I was shopping around for a PC upgrade for my friend since she wanted one and looked at GIGABYTE mainboards since from my experience they are a good brand to go for. Then her brother chimed in "How can you go for a GIGABYTE mainboard, they lose performance so quickly. ASUS is the single only brand to go for!"

I was stumped but couldn't but chuckle, how can a mainboard possibly "lose performance"? Will the southbridge degenerate, will the PCI-E connection melt over time? o.o

Seriously though it got me curious, I never heard of such a thing in the 20 years I use PCs, is there anything valid to his claim, is it a myth of the past or how did he get the idea that a mainboard can lose performance?

Well parts do degrade over time and become prone to interference. Higher quality parts can be resistant to that. I'm not sure what he means by "lose performance" though.

 

[Skyfireblaze]

Well parts do degrade over time and become prone to interference. Higher quality parts can be resistant to that. I'm not sure what he means by "lose performance" though.

See my edit above I clarified what he meant. And yeah if he would have said that the boards tend to break quicker than ASUS boards I wouldn't even have found the whole thing weird. I know ASUS is a very good brand but I personally never had a GIGABYTE board breaking on me either.

 

[Smokey]

Desk or wall mounted? Wall mounts are easier to cheap out on IMO as the biggest issue with desk mounts are the wobble you'll encounter when you position your monitor too far from the clamp/pole.

Ergotron and Atdec are my go to's now that I've set up mounts for a few people.

Desk mount is what I am thinking.

 

[ParityBit]

Should be fine. What's the rest of your system?

• Windows 10
• i7-3770K (3.5GHz)
• 16 GB RAM
• GeForce GTX680 (x2)

 

[bomblord1]

See my edit above I clarified what he meant. And yeah if he would have said that the boards tend to break quicker than ASUS boards I wouldn't even have found the whole thing weird. I know ASUS is a very good brand but I personally never had a GIGABYTE board breaking on me either.

Yea who knows sometimes people just don't know what they are talking about when they think they do lol.

 

[Skyfireblaze]

Yea who knows sometimes people just don't know what they are talking about when they think they do lol.

I believed this was the case here yeah, but good to know that I didn't miss anything then

 

[V1LÆM]

So I finally OC'd my 6600k. Currently stable @ 4.4 with a vcore of 1.28. Pushed my 390 to core of 1100 and memory of 1600 stable. Not sure how much more I want to go up and I'm still getting some stuttering every 15 minutes or so in the witcher 3 (I can't figure out the issue). Temp on the GPU hasn't gone above 74 and max CPU is at 53. Pretty solid.

is that really as far as a 390 will go? my 290 can get 1140/1525 (stock is 977/1250). The Witcher 3 has a lot of stuttering issues. The game ran better for me at launch than it does now. I don't know what happened to it.

 

[kubus]

I just tried overclocking my Intel i7-2600k using Skyfireblaze's amazing noob friendly guide and this beginner's guide by Lifehacker and I think I was succesful but I just wanted to ask a few things to be sure.

I increased the multiplier one at a time, starting with the default 3.3 Ghz, every time checking in Prime96 and with Core Temp if my system could handle it, and I ended at 3.8 Ghz with temperatures of 46C idle and 65C stressed. I guess I could turn it up another few notches, but I haven't touched the voltage settings at all and I was wondering if that was okay before I go any further.

Skyfireblaze said to change Voltage/Vcore from Auto to Offset, but my bios doesn't have that option. It's set to Auto or I can raise the voltage with increments of 0.05 more akin to Lifehacker's guide. It's still set to Auto now and the voltage setting raised from 1200 V (3.3Ghz) to 1264 (3.8 Ghz) automatically by keeping this setting. I never got any crashes or anything during stress testing.

Is it fine like this or should I manually change it?

 

[Dina]

Dont bother, but if you do 6700k then maybe? But it just seems more like an upgrade itch than a real need. Besides its a 970 not a 980 Ti.

Edit: plus the fact that you need a new mobo and new ram? Not worth it at all. Just wait for a GTX 1080 if u want to upgrade.

1080GTX? Really? Not even the cpu?

Definitely mirroring the 'upgrade itch instead of a real need' though.

If you're not encountering any issues, then it isn't warranted. Now, if you want to, then that's a different story. However if you're capturing video and looking to encode as well, you may want to look at the i7's for a little more oomph.

Dabbling into it is more like it. Just recording some YT video's, actually. It's nothing special, nor will this become my job. I suppose I'll just wait it out and see what happens. Maybe get that 500GB SSD to tide me over.

 

[Kenzodielocke]

So fucking bad. Salary still isn't on my bank account and I am going to miss out on Rise of the Tomb Raider promo. Fuck that shit and fuck the state too.

 

[Oxn]

1080GTX? Really? Not even the cpu?

Definitely mirroring the 'upgrade itch instead of a real need' though.



Dabbling into it is more like it. Just recording some YT video's, actually. It's nothing special, nor will this become my job. I suppose I'll just wait it out and see what happens. Maybe get that 500GB SSD to tide me over.

Well if u are itching to upgrade cpu then go with 5820K, or wait for the new Broadwell-E in the summer. Just seems like a waste going from 2500 to 6600.

 

[DUFFMCWALIN]

is that really as far as a 390 will go? my 290 can get 1140/1525 (stock is 977/1250). The Witcher 3 has a lot of stuttering issues. The game ran better for me at launch than it does now. I don't know what happened to it.

I've read that depending on the brand you buy the 390 can be pushed a bit more. I'm still trying to feel out what the card can do. I've always read that amd cards can't be pushed as far as Nvidia but I'm not sure how true that is or if it's just certain cards.

 

[knitoe]

I just tried overclocking my Intel i7-2600k using Skyfireblaze's amazing noob friendly guide and this beginner's guide by Lifehacker and I think I was succesful but I just wanted to ask a few things to be sure.

I increased the multiplier one at a time, starting with the default 3.3 Ghz, every time checking in Prime96 and with Core Temp if my system could handle it, and I ended at 3.8 Ghz with temperatures of 46C idle and 65C stressed. I guess I could turn it up another few notches, but I haven't touched the voltage settings at all and I was wondering if that was okay before I go any further.

Skyfireblaze said to change Voltage/Vcore from Auto to Offset, but my bios doesn't have that option. It's set to Auto or I can raise the voltage with increments of 0.05 more akin to Lifehacker's guide. It's still set to Auto now and the voltage setting raised from 1200 V (3.3Ghz) to 1264 (3.8 Ghz) automatically by keeping this setting. I never got any crashes or anything during stress testing.

Is it fine like this or should I manually change it?

You are doing it the slow way.

Most 2600K can do 4.2-4.5GHz with a aftermarket cooler. Depending on your cooling setup, your best OC speed will depend on keeping your CPU under 80C temps and max 1.35V core voltage.

Using HWinfo to monitor, link in the OP:
1) Set your core voltage = 1.35V
2) Set speed to 4.2GHz. Stress test with Prime95.
3) If it passes the test and temps are fine, increase speed to 4.3GHz and retest. Keep on upping the speed by .1GHz until Prime fails due to not enough voltage and/or too high temps.
4) Once it fails, go .1GHz lower. Now, you work on finding the best core voltage for your speed. Start decreasing .010V and test. If it passes, keep on decreasing by .010V until Prime fails. Then, keep increasing by .005V and test for longer periods. Once it can pass for 3-4 hrs, it's about 99% stable.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Here is my brief tale of Not Quite Being a Computer Expert:

A few months ago I bitched to Time Warner about my cable bill, so they lowered the bill and upgraded my internet from 50/5 to 200/20. Which I don't really have a ton of use for, but sure. Except whenever I ran Speedtest, the upload was fine but the download speed was actually lower than it was before.

I call and they can't figure it out over the phone, it seems fine. They send a technician out and HE can't figure it out, everything looks fine, he suggests maybe it's the NIC card in my PC. I'm like, this motherboard is eight minutes old, that probably isn't it. I don't have a WiFi card in the PC so I can't directly test the wireless connection, but my iPhone does seem to download at a much higher speed than my PC ethernet connection.

So I left it for a few months because who cares, I guess, although it still annoyed me. And those download speeds on Steam would be pretty sweet. This weekend I bought and popped in a wireless card, and Speedtest ran at much closer to the max download speed, so hey, cool.

But STILL. Why isn't the wired connection working? It's annoying. And I'm sitting here a little while ago thinking about it again, and I suddenly think--maybe the cable? Could the cable be too old or something? Are there new cable types? Not really? But I don't even remember the last time I bought an ethernet cable? This could be 15 years old for all I know?

This one doesn't even have the type listed on it, so I scrounge around and switch it out with one specifically labeled Cat 5e. And suddenly, two months and $40 in wireless cards later, Speedtest looks like the Noise Meter at a football game.

In summary,

Problem: My wired connection is not reaching max download speeds.
Solution: Make sure your cable is not from the 1990s.

 

[RGM79]

Here is my brief tale of Not Quite Being a Computer Expert:

A few months ago I bitched to Time Warner about my cable bill, so they lowered the bill and upgraded my internet from 50/5 to 200/20. Which I don't really have a ton of use for, but sure. Except whenever I ran Speedtest, the upload was fine but the download speed was actually lower than it was before.

I call and they can't figure it out over the phone, it seems fine. They send a technician out and HE can't figure it out, everything looks fine, he suggests maybe it's the NIC card in my PC. I'm like, this motherboard is eight minutes old, that probably isn't it. I don't have a WiFi card in the PC so I can't directly test the wireless connection, but my iPhone does seem to download at a much higher speed than my PC ethernet connection.

So I left it for a few months because who cares, I guess, although it still annoyed me. And those download speeds on Steam would be pretty sweet. This weekend I bought and popped in a wireless card, and Speedtest ran at much closer to the max download speed, so hey, cool.

But STILL. Why isn't the wired connection working? It's annoying. And I'm sitting here a little while ago thinking about it again, and I suddenly think--maybe the cable? Could the cable be too old or something? Are there new cable types? Not really? But I don't even remember the last time I bought an ethernet cable? This could be 15 years old for all I know?

This one doesn't even have the type listed on it, so I scrounge around and switch it out with one specifically labeled Cat 5e. And suddenly, two months and $40 in wireless cards later, Speedtest looks like the Noise Meter at a football game.

In summary,

Problem: My wired connection is not reaching max download speeds.
Solution: Make sure your cable is not from the 1990s.

Good to hear you got that sorted out. Going off my experience with computers, one shouldn't discount any possibility when it comes to troubleshooting unless one is absolutely certain, and even then taking a bit of time to be sure by swapping out a component you thought was working fine can save a lot of hair pulling and stress.

 

[LilJoka]

The aim Is to easily be able to add a 980ti for SLI in the future. I've updated my build with some of your suggestions. Went for a K series CPU so I can overclock. Went for some faster ram and got a smaller PSU. I figured when I upgrade I'll grab a bigger PSU and another graphics card.

Does this look good to go?

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2B2zBm
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2B2zBm/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£199.96 @ More Computers)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£26.49 @ Ebuyer)

Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£120.10 @ More Computers)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£68.98 @ Amazon UK)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£129.98 @ Novatech)

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card (£504.99 @ Amazon UK)

Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£82.99 @ Novatech)

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold
Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£74.99 @ Amazon UK)

Total: £1208.48

I've already got a 2tb storage drive and I'll be getting a 1440p gsync monitor to go with it.

Im going to ask the question again, why did you never SLI your GTX 460?
Disadvantage of SLI aftr some years:
New cards are more efficient
New cards are quieter and more performance per watt
SLI will be noisy
SLI will be power hungry
SLI will increase case temps

I always advise people the following because of the above, SLI now, otherwise buy the single fastest GPU and later sell it and buy the new one. Pascal will probably piss all over Maxwell with the node shrink.

So just re think the above.

Now if you still want to SLI in the future, ATX is fine, PSU, just buy a decent one now, 850-1000W.

If you change your mind, go mATX form factor and stick with the 650W youve chosen or the Corsair RMx650.

 

[popo]

See my edit above I clarified what he meant. And yeah if he would have said that the boards tend to break quicker than ASUS boards I wouldn't even have found the whole thing weird. I know ASUS is a very good brand but I personally never had a GIGABYTE board breaking on me either.

Had three dodgy gigabyte boards in a row about 5 years back. Makes me wary of them. I know they all likely have similar fail rates though. Had an Asus blow on me too.

Anyone have experience with Evga's RMA service? My month old 970 recently started making a buzzing noise while running games and I kind of want to send it back. Although I've read they send back refurbished products, are these usually reliable?

at least they have a UK RMA address now. Up until last November you had to ship to Germany.

 

[Skyfireblaze]

I just tried overclocking my Intel i7-2600k using Skyfireblaze's amazing noob friendly guide and this beginner's guide by Lifehacker and I think I was succesful but I just wanted to ask a few things to be sure.

I increased the multiplier one at a time, starting with the default 3.3 Ghz, every time checking in Prime96 and with Core Temp if my system could handle it, and I ended at 3.8 Ghz with temperatures of 46C idle and 65C stressed. I guess I could turn it up another few notches, but I haven't touched the voltage settings at all and I was wondering if that was okay before I go any further.

Skyfireblaze said to change Voltage/Vcore from Auto to Offset, but my bios doesn't have that option. It's set to Auto or I can raise the voltage with increments of 0.05 more akin to Lifehacker's guide. It's still set to Auto now and the voltage setting raised from 1200 V (3.3Ghz) to 1264 (3.8 Ghz) automatically by keeping this setting. I never got any crashes or anything during stress testing.

Is it fine like this or should I manually change it?

Hmm look further down in the BIOS settings, in some boards the Offset setting can be separate. Otherwise this sounds fine and like you still have some headroom to go yeah! Glad everything went so well for you

Had three dodgy gigabyte boards in a row about 5 years back. Makes me wary of them. I know they all likely have similar fail rates though. Had an Asus blow on me too.

Huh okay I guess it's really different from person to person, my highest mainboard failure rate is MSI so far with three boards too. But wow sounds like you have been unlucky :/

 

[DUFFMCWALIN]

I might have spoken too soon. I started running Prime95 after getting the all clear message from intelburntest and I'm running into a illegal sumout error on the fourth worker for Prime95. I went back to stock speeds and I'm still getting the same error. I ran memtest86 and nothing failed there either. I hope its not a bad cpu or mb.

Passing everything on the blend torture test so far on Prime95.

 

[Victory Red]

Hello. Looking to build a PC. Doesn't need to run max settings but a slightly above average build would be fine for me.

My dilemma... it HAS to run two monitors.

Do any of the video cards in the recommendations support two monitors?

 

[Oxn]

Hello. Looking to build a PC. Doesn't need to run max settings but a slightly above average build would be fine for me.

My dilemma... it HAS to run two monitors.

Do any of the video cards in the recommendations support two monitors?

If you mean 2 1080p monitors, then get a GTX 970.

 

[Atlas157]

edit: nevermind

 

[Victory Red]

If you mean 2 1080p monitors, then get a GTX 970.

Thats a shit load of money.

 

[Oxn]

Thats a shit load of money.

$300?

Well what did you have in mind? a 960? That will work also for 2 monitors.

 

[Victory Red]

$300?

Well what did you have in mind? a 960? That will work also for 2 monitors.

Yeah that works. $220 is fine.

Ok, noob question... if I buy this board: "ASRock H97M" how do I know if a video card that says this: "EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SSC GAMING ACX 2.0+, Whisper Silent Cooling w/ Free Installed Backplate Graphics Card 04G-P4-3967-KR" is compatible with it ??

 

[Oxn]

Yeah that works. $220 is fine.

Ok, noob question... if I buy this board: "ASRock H97M" how do I know if a video card that says this: "EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SSC GAMING ACX 2.0+, Whisper Silent Cooling w/ Free Installed Backplate Graphics Card 04G-P4-3967-KR" is compatible with it ??

It is compatible with it.

Edit: Just about any modern graphic card is compatible with 2 monitor, just an fyi. But if you want to game pretty well on 1 of those monitors then yes you should get a 960 or up.