• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

"I Need a New PC!" 2015 Part 2. Read the OP. Rocking 2500K's until HBM2 and beyond.

Status
Not open for further replies.

Muddimar

Member
Thats the question everyone asks themselves.

I went with a 970 for now, and will wait to see what the 980ti pascal equivalent is like. What resolution are you gaming at? If you want 4K the 980ti/Titan is the way to go. For 1080p/1440p a 970 will handle most stuff really well.

I have the z170a Krait and a 6600k, and I'm playing stuff like Witcher 3 and GTAV in 1440p no problem

I game at 1080p (for now). So it looks like 970 is the way to go in this case. Extra horse power would be a waste it seems.
 

Bloodember

Member
I need a new router.

I live in a small apartment, so I dont need crazy range, and pretty much everything but my phone is wired up anyway.

What would you guys recommend? Something I can get from MemoryExpress would be best, but any Canadian store is fine.

TP-Link Archer C7: One of the best routers for very little money.
 

Dmax3901

Member
Had a look at the monitors in the OP, I can't even find the ASUS VS239H-P or the ASUS VS238H-P monitors here in Australia.

Any suggestions for a similar price point?
 
The jonny guru review is OK. I'm not up on US prices too much but for $10 more Amazon has the EVGA G2 750W, a much better-reviewed unit with a 10 year warranty (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IKDETOW/?tag=pcpapi-20).

There might be some other good deals floating around, I'm sure the regulars would know.


OK, thanks.

Going a bit in the other direction, would this one be OK? I want something semi-modular for cable management.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K85X23O/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Also, reposting this for the new page:
I'm back.

If I want to get a 970 instead of the R9, should I get a different motherboard or is this still fine for that?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170-GAMING 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 390 8GB PCS+ Video Card ($274.99 @ Newegg)


Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-17 01:57 EST-0500
 
When your GPU/CPU usage isn't maxed out, and you're seeing framedrops, is it likely an issue with the game itself, or drivers?

h5Ib.png


Also, is it normal for voltage to appear differently between HWMonitor and GPU-Z?

g5Ib.png
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
Still in the planning stage of upgrading my PC.

Has anyone seen/used/heard anything about the ICYDOCK TOUGH ARMOR MB996SP-6SB?

Seems tight.


I'm planning on moving to a custom built external GPU enclosure using a pcie riser cable, so I'll have a little more open space in my SFF case. This seems like a nice addition! It obviously would not be seated in a 5.25in drive bay and I have yet to even take measurements and stuff just kinda thinking about it.

Right now I have my two SSDs in Raid0s that are ziptied together and attached to the frame, but my PC has 4 more SATA ports. 2 internal and 2 external.

This thing seems like a completely "dumb" enclosure, it just has 6 SATA slots on the back and two molex connectors. I have to wonder if I were to theoretically get it if I could seat my current drives in it and still have them act identically to the way they do now.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
Easily (if you are talking USD). There's a complete build a page or 2 back that I posted for just over $1,000 USD with a 970. That also included a monitor, mouse and keyboard, and speakers.

I guess that looks like a good start. I don't think he's gonna need an aftermarket cooler or anything though. SFV is by far the most demanding thing he'll try to run, and possibly the only game period. Maybe his kids might want some of the Lego games or Disney Infinity or something. He also likely won't need a very fancy monitor at all.

Oh, and he'll probably want two Xbox controllers and a wireless adapter which is an additional $100.
 

MrOogieBoogie

BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
Been experiencing a strange problem with my fans lately. Every time I start my computer, the fans are REALLY loud. I have to tap my case a few times before they quiet down. But after an hour or so they start ramping up very loud again, and it continues like this until I either tap my case a few times or turn the system off.

Are they just dusty or do I need completely new fans?

I have a Rosewill Challenger case. If I were to buy new fans, which ones should I go for?
 
Ugh... sucks. I don't want to immediately be left behind on a new build.

For what it's worth, you wouldn't be left behind with a 980 ti. It's a fantastic card and will still be a fantastic card this time next year (and beyond).

I game at 1080p (for now). So it looks like 970 is the way to go in this case. Extra horse power would be a waste it seems.

That said yes, at 1080p go for the 970. I only recommend the 980ti to people gaming at above that right now. Not that there aren't benefits at 1080p, I just don't think those benefits are large enough compared to a 970 at 1080p to justify it.
 
When a motherboard has a socket LGA1151, can it only take LGA1151 CPUs (Which seem to be only i7s), or can you also put a lower CPU such as a LGA 1150 in it?
 

Celcius

°Temp. member
When your GPU/CPU usage isn't maxed out, and you're seeing framedrops, is it likely an issue with the game itself, or drivers?

Also, is it normal for voltage to appear differently between HWMonitor and GPU-Z?

I would try different drivers out of curiosity but it's probably just the game (you do have a ton of cpu cores after all). I'd trust gpu-z for my gpu voltage reading.
 
I would try different drivers out of curiosity but it's probably just the game (you do have a ton of cpu cores after all). I'd trust gpu-z for my gpu voltage reading.

It's a 4-core CPU (i7 4770K), it just show more due to hyper-threading.

Speaking of the CPU, I'm thinking of overclocking mine from the stock 3.5ghz (with turbo boost to 3.9ghz), to 4.0ghz. Would it be as simple as going into the BIOS and adjusting the multiplier (my motherboard is a Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H, so it has UEFI Dual BIOS), or would I also need to fiddle around with voltage? Current voltage according to CPU-Z is 1.195v.
 

greyskull

Member
When your GPU/CPU usage isn't maxed out, and you're seeing framedrops, is it likely an issue with the game itself, or drivers?

Also, is it normal for voltage to appear differently between HWMonitor and GPU-Z?

In an ideal world, (assuming your framerate is uncapped) a GPU is completely maxed out without your CPU being maxed out too, meaning your GPU is kept fed and is able to run as fast as it can. There are so many variables that can affect this, and watching the load percentages really don't tell much of the story. That being said, it's usually the game, especially considering the complexity and open-world nature of something like GTAV. You could tweak your settings until you find the thing that causes the bottleneck, if it's worth it to you.

Can't speak confidently about the voltage bit, but they're likely reporting from different sources.
 

theRizzle

Member
I guess that looks like a good start. I don't think he's gonna need an aftermarket cooler or anything though. SFV is by far the most demanding thing he'll try to run, and possibly the only game period. Maybe his kids might want some of the Lego games or Disney Infinity or something. He also likely won't need a very fancy monitor at all.

Oh, and he'll probably want two Xbox controllers and a wireless adapter which is an additional $100.

You have to get an aftermarker cooler with the K processors these days. Intel doesn't include any cooling with them anymore. Presumably because everyone was buying that 212 anyway. I have no idea what the regular 6600 is like, but that would come with a stock CPU cooler.
 

Celcius

°Temp. member
It's a 4-core CPU (i7 4770K), it just show more due to hyper-threading.

Speaking of the CPU, I'm thinking of overclocking mine from the stock 3.5ghz (with turbo boost to 3.9ghz), to 4.0ghz. Would it be as simple as going into the BIOS and adjusting the multiplier (my motherboard is a Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H, so it has UEFI Dual BIOS), or would I also need to fiddle around with voltage? Current voltage according to CPU-Z is 1.195v.

Ah, I see.
Yep, to overclock you can just go into the bios and change to cpu multiplier to 40 and then boot into windows and run some stress tests (like prime 95). If it crashes or fails then up the cpu voltage by 1 or 2 notches and then try again. Easy. :)
 

knitoe

Member
It's a 4-core CPU (i7 4770K), it just show more due to hyper-threading.

Speaking of the CPU, I'm thinking of overclocking mine from the stock 3.5ghz (with turbo boost to 3.9ghz), to 4.0ghz. Would it be as simple as going into the BIOS and adjusting the multiplier (my motherboard is a Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H, so it has UEFI Dual BIOS), or would I also need to fiddle around with voltage? Current voltage according to CPU-Z is 1.195v.
With a CPU that has HT, you will normally only see 50-60% usage because the rest has to do with HT which most games don't really efficiently use.

With your CPU, a boost to 3.9GHz is only for 1 core. If a game uses 3-4 cores, which GTA4 does, it will only be running at the 3.5GHz. Thus, you CPU is probably bottlenecking you GPU from what you have shown. By CPU OC, you can run all the cores at X speed which helps with this issue. Depending on high you want to OC, it will be how much more CPU voltage you need to add. You might want to do some googling to see what people needed.
 
Ah, I see.
Yep, to overclock you can just go into the bios and change to cpu multiplier to 40 and then boot into windows and run some stress tests (like prime 95). If it crashes or fails then up the cpu voltage by 1 or 2 notches and then try again. Easy. :)

Thanks, I'll try that out.

With a CPU that has HT, you will normally only see 50-60% usage because the rest has to do with HT which most games don't really efficiently use.

With your CPU, a boost to 3.9GHz is only for 1 core. If a game uses 3-4 cores, which GTA4 does, it will only be running at the 3.5GHz. Thus, you CPU is probably bottlenecking you GPU from what you have shown. By CPU OC, you can run all the cores at X speed which helps with this issue. Depending on high you want to OC, it will be how much more CPU voltage you need to add. You might want to do some googling to see what people needed.

I've read up a bit about hyper-threading, and that it supposedly has a negative effect on gaming performance. Is there a way to disable hyper-threading on a per-application basis, or does it have to be disabled in the BIOS?

And yeah, I'm aware that turbo boost is much more limited in what it can do compared to a conventional overclock. I originally had a 4.2ghz OC (set by DinoPC, which is where I bought my PC from originally), but they reset it to stock levels when I sent it in for a checkup because it was causing BSODs when under stress (e.g. during 3D rendering). So I'm not looking for a major overclock to 4.7ghz or something, just a small boost.
 

knitoe

Member
I've read up a bit about hyper-threading, and that it supposedly has a negative effect on gaming performance. Is there a way to disable hyper-threading on a per-application basis, or does it have to be disabled in the BIOS?

And yeah, I'm aware that turbo boost is much more limited in what it can do compared to a conventional overclock. I originally had a 4.2ghz OC (set by DinoPC, which is where I bought my PC from originally), but they reset it to stock levels when I sent it in for a checkup because it was causing BSODs when under stress (e.g. during 3D rendering).
I only knew of disabling HT through the bios, but I wouldn't recommend it. It does offer some performance boost these days. Instead, just OC your CPU. If the CPU was the bottleneck problem, you should see higher fps and gpu usage.
 

hateradio

The Most Dangerous Yes Man
Now that I got my tax refund, I was considering the ROG Swift . . . but it has mysteriously become out of stock almost everywhere.

I wonder if they're releasing a new version.


Very mysterious.
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($49.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($319.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($35.99 @ Newegg)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $805.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-22 00:37 EST-0500

Finally built my first PC with the components above. Gonna get an SSD and another stick of ram next month.
 
Ugh... sucks. I don't want to immediately be left behind on a new build.

Well I've just bought all the parts for my new pc sans a GPU. But as I've said earlier in this thread I'm mainly looking to run CPU intensive tasks at the moment so I'll be fine until Pascal hits.

Also, to follow on from a few pages ago I ended up buying a Corsair RM650i PSU, which seems to be very well regarded.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
You have to get an aftermarker cooler with the K processors these days. Intel doesn't include any cooling with them anymore. Presumably because everyone was buying that 212 anyway. I have no idea what the regular 6600 is like, but that would come with a stock CPU cooler.

That sucks.
 

inner-G

Banned
I game at 1080p (for now). So it looks like 970 is the way to go in this case. Extra horse power would be a waste it seems.
For 1080p, a 970 will murder about everything.

There are of course things like ARK and the Witcher hair works that won't be worth it, but even higher-end cards struggle on stuff like that.
 

RGM79

Member
Made some changes to the rig. First, moved down the fan like you suggested:

sJS8u1D.jpg


Also took off the middle cage, moved the SSD to the bottom cage and the front fan to the highest slot.

4G1f7Yd.jpg


I highlighted my fans with red circles and fan slots with blue ones. Should I get more fans? Now I get 30ºC when I start the PC but after a while it goes to 40/43 with 9 or 10 tabs opened on Chrome. I'm gonna buy some thermal paste this week and apply it.

That's a good improvement. Case layout looks fine to me. A 3~6 degree drop from what you had before when running web browser is pretty drastic. I don't know what tabs you have loaded or if you have anything else running in the background, so 40~43 degrees sounds okay to me.

Thanks for the advice! Unfortunately, my sister doesn't want refurbished anymore (I guess she didn't know what it meant). I really liked that ThinkPad and tried my best to sell her on it but she started asking questions like "how long was it used for", etc. so it didn't work out. :( She doesn't care about specs (I do though) and has threatened to just go to Costco and buy a laptop herself. That is something that I cannot allow to happen.

Someone responded in the laptop thread and recommended something to me so I will just copy my post.

I just noticed that it has one of the "so-so" Celeron processors that you mentioned. However, it seems to have the highest performance/price ratio at Costco. At least, that is how I interpret it based off RAM, storage and processor GHz. What are your thoughts?

Hard to say, as I haven't used one of them myself. Like you, I care about specs, although I'm liable to go kinda overboard for my needs. I'm worried the Celeron might chug a bit if she tries to run a bunch of programs at the same time or if there's a lot going on in the background. I consider the Celeron to be so-so because it's basically like an Atom processor. I could have sworn there were better laptop deals a couple of months ago, but I guess they were all mostly $499+ before taxes. Staying at $500 or under after taxes means looking at models priced at $350~450 before taxes, which I guess limits your choices. I was hoping there would be some laptops with Pentium processors, but oh well.
 

kennah

Member
When a motherboard has a socket LGA1151, can it only take LGA1151 CPUs (Which seem to be only i7s), or can you also put a lower CPU such as a LGA 1150 in it?
No you would need a socket 1151 chip. There are i3 and i5 chips for it look for 6100. 6300 6500 6600 etc
 

Poker360

Member
Is that the silver or dark gray case?

I was indecisive about which color to get, but ended up with the silver one. It's alright. :]

It is the dark Grey I really like it. It was between that and the black for me.

Lovely build. Great job, bet it runs so nice with the 2 980ti's!

I finished my build yesterday, same case as you. Only one 980ti for now though. Really happy with how it went. :)

Here's some pics. Apologies for the pants quality.

It does. It ran good really well with just one 980ti as well I didn't realize I had to enable sli until a day or two after I built it lol.
 
Another monitor question. I have an Nvidia 960 and don't use it for gaming at all but I want more screen real-estate.

I have two options:

25" Q2577PWQ 1440p - £215
28" Acer CB281HK 4K - £300

I am leaning towards 4K and then using HiDPI to make it 1440p equivalent. Would the 960 be enough to drive a UI at 4K, web browsing, web games, youtube, twitch, video playback?

I do a fair amount of text reading, would text be noticeably crisper at 1440p HiDPI vs regular 1440p?
 

bomblord1

Banned
Another monitor question. I have an Nvidia 960 and don't use it for gaming at all but I want more screen real-estate.

I have two options:

25" Q2577PWQ 1440p - £215
28" Acer CB281HK 4K - £300

I am leaning towards 4K and then using HiDPI to make it 1440p equivalent. Would the 960 be enough to drive a UI at 4K, web browsing, web games, youtube, twitch, video playback?

I do a fair amount of text reading, would text be noticeably crisper at 1440p HiDPI vs regular 1440p?

In regards to 4k videos should be fine as well as general web browsing don't try to play any modern game at that res though.
 
I only knew of disabling HT through the bios, but I wouldn't recommend it. It does offer some performance boost these days. Instead, just OC your CPU. If the CPU was the bottleneck problem, you should see higher fps and gpu usage.

Am I correct in thinking that voltage is the main thing to watch out for when overclocking? From what I've observed from videos and articles, setting your actual overclock too high can result in BSODs, but setting the voltage too high is what can cause actual hardware failure?

EDIT: I set the core multiplier to 4.0ghz, same with the uncore. Have yet to run a Prime95 test, but here's what I've observed so far.

Idle
h7Ib.png


Load (3D rendering)
i7Ib.png


Are these voltages/temps considered safe?
 

knitoe

Member
Am I correct in thinking that voltage is the main thing to watch out for when overclocking? From what I've observed from videos and articles, setting your actual overclock too high can result in BSODs, but setting the voltage too high is what can cause actual hardware failure?

EDIT: I set the core multiplier to 4.0ghz, same with the uncore. Have yet to run a Prime95 test, but here's what I've observed so far.

Idle
h7Ib.png


Load (3D rendering)
i7Ib.png


Are these voltages/temps considered safe?
Generally, you want max 1.35V and under 80C while stress load testing. From what you are showing, it's fine. With those voltages, you should be able to hit 4.2GHz, and maybe, higher. Also, you don't need to have the CPU run at max speed while idling. Let it downclock.

And, I would use HWinfo instead, linked in OP. Provides much more info than HWmonitor. Not sure why people still use that.
 
Found a build in this thread that I think matches what I need to upgrade.

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($363.27 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($230.47 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($104.98 @ NCIX)
Total: $698.72

Currently running a locked i5 2500 and it's starting to show its age. I can reuse my 970, case and power supply. I also have a Hyper 212 EVO on my i5, so I should be able to reuse that with some new paste, right?

I only do 1080p gaming and just want to get good performance in The Division.

Anything wrong with this as an upgrade?
 
Generally, you want max 1.35V and under 80C while stress load testing. From what you are showing, it's fine. With those voltages, you should be able to hit 4.2GHz, and maybe, higher. Also, you don't need to have the CPU run at max speed while idling. Let it downclock.

And, I would use HWinfo instead, linked in OP. Provides much more info than HWmonitor. Not sure why people still use that.

What's the best minimum processor state to use?

t7Ib.png
 
I just ordered a GTX 970 to replace my 560ti. Is it worth keeping the 560 around for Physx? I have a 750w PSU so it should be ok. Just wondering if it's worth the power draw or if the 560 could even keep up.
 
I just ordered a GTX 970 to replace my 560ti. Is it worth keeping the 560 around for Physx? I have a 750w PSU so it should be ok. Just wondering if it's worth the power draw or if the 560 could even keep up.

Not worth it. I would sell it or give it to a friend. Unless you need it for a secondary system somewhere.

My SO gets my hand-me-down video cards when I upgrade.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom