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[theRizzle]

Holy shit WTF is up with the "X" bracket that mounts the CPU fan above the motherboard (on the 212 Evo)? When I screw a few in, the opposite side is lifted up away from the screw holes. I've been reading online and other people have had the same problem.

It can be VERY fiddly. I'd suggest only tightening the screw enough so that it catches the thread instead of all the way or even halfway, then getting all of the other ones the same way.

If you can't even manage that, I'd try rotating the bracket 90 degrees. I think I remember having the problem with my 212 where I was certain I had the bracket fixed properly but it just would NOT go in. Keep in mind that might/will change the orientation of the heatsink and fan. I can't remember how the fan attaches to the bracket so I can't say for certain.

 

[Flaxh]

Holy shit WTF is up with the "X" bracket that mounts the CPU fan above the motherboard (on the 212 Evo)? When I screw a few in, the opposite side is lifted up away from the screw holes. I've been reading online and other people have had the same problem.[/URL]

It can be VERY fiddly. I'd suggest only tightening the screw enough so that it catches the thread instead of all the way or even halfway, then getting all of the other ones the same way.

I also ran into trouble with mine this week and this is how i managed to fix it.

 

[brandonh83]

It can be VERY fiddly. I'd suggest only tightening the screw enough so that it catches the thread instead of all the way or even halfway, then getting all of the other ones the same way.

Yeah, this so far has been an absolute pain. I realize putting stuff together isn't always easy but this feels pointlessly annoying lol. I'll just have to take it real slow. The main annoyance apart from that is that it's very hard to keep the cooler standing up as you're trying to work with the bracket. I'm not sure why it was built this way-- probably to somehow support different boards, but it should be a lot easier than this.

I'll definitely try this though, thank you.

edit: got it, my GOD. Had to put some force into it with the screwdriver. Thanks again all. Moving on!

 

[J_ToSaveTheDay]

First, any mid range PC or above (w/~$200 GPU and 4 core CPU) will pretty much destroy a console in terms of the combination of visual fidelity and framerates.

Just to confirm, as you stated, a 980 Ti is not enough for "smooth" 4K/60fps. Although, this is on a game by game basis. GTAV runs at about 30-45fps on max with no AA. While pCARS can easily run above 60fps (I get 90+ on 980 Ti Classified). Same deal with VR. Make a list of the games you want to play (in 4K and VR) and research the hardware requirements for each respective game. Note: for VR you won't know this until VR games are actually out in the market.

At the moment, we do not know what class of GPU Nvidia will be releasing for the launch of their next architecture (Pascal). Will it be the "cut down" 1070/1080 or their Titan/Ti "full" class card. Without this information it is hard to estimate how well they will be able to drive VR/4K. If history is a guide (980>780Ti, etc), assume it will be at least equivalent to this gen's Ti. Thus it is very hard to give you a definitive course of action. With that said, we are close enough to the launch of this new GPU (Nvidia's big trade show is in April), that you should wait until they announce... whatever they announce.

I would highly recommend taking a rain check on VR though. First, The Rift is sold out until July. The Vive should be similar once pre-orders are up. In addition to that, it would be wise to wait until the holiday so inevitable bugs can be patched, critical opinions levied and some consensus on the overall quality of VR games and VR in general is perceivable.

In addition, VR and 4K are not the only headline "technologies" you should have on your radar. Display port 1.3 and High Dynamic Range (HDR) may not seem that great on the surface, but should deliver a definitively superior experience and will only be possible on next generation GPUs. Display port 1.3 will enable the combination of higher refresh rates with high resolutions (as well as HDR). See image below.

4K is nice, but I stand firmly in the framerate>resolution camp. I also stand in the image quality>resolution camp (HDR>4K). I got to see a Vizio 4K HDR TV in NY and it completely ruined all screens (from and IQ perspective) for me. 3440x1440 at 144hz w/HDR and G-Sync on a quality panel should be pretty close to gaming perfection (IMO). This will obviously require a VERY powerful card likely Titan/1080 Ti or SLI 1070/1080 (Ti is probably a year away). Also these monitors won't be cheap at launch (later this year).

I realize I probably didn't make your decision any more clear. That being said the big takeaway is, now more than ever, it is worth considering all the moving pieces in the PC gaming landscape.

Great response, thank you very much paskowitz!

My budget's not all ready yet, so I guess I will indeed get to see what nVidia has in store for their next generation before I'm good to go with my next build.

I've not heard much about HDR technology but I will start looking into it. I'm also more favorable to framerate > resolution, which is why I have still remained satisfied by 1080p up until now -- it was merely a consideration for 4K, since the mainstream seems to be looking to 4K as the future standard in a pretty big way right now.

 

[drhankmccoyphd]

Stupid question time: I upgraded my RAM to DDR3 2400MHz, 2x 4GB sticks. The RAM slots on my mobo are color coated in blue and black. Do I put both DIMMS in the same color slot or different. I know there's rule of thumb I just can't remember what it is.

 

[Hikami]

All of my parts are here!
Time to build. Pretty confident I've got everything down.. except the Power Supply connectors. Haven't messed with those before aside from the SATA cables so this'll be interesting.

 

[theRizzle]

Stupid question time: I upgraded my RAM to DDR3 2400MHz, 2x 4GB sticks. The RAM slots on my mobo are color coated in blue and black. Do I put both DIMMS in the same color slot or different. I know there's rule of thumb I just can't remember what it is.

Same color for sure. I am assuming they are alternating (Blue | Black | Blue | Black). Some motherboards prefer slots 1 & 3 (Blue) if you are only using 2 sticks, some prefer 2 & 4 (Black). I'd check the motherboard manual to be certain.

 

[kuYuri]

Yeah, this so far has been an absolute pain. I realize putting stuff together isn't always easy but this feels pointlessly annoying lol. I'll just have to take it real slow. The main annoyance apart from that is that it's very hard to keep the cooler standing up as you're trying to work with the bracket. I'm not sure why it was built this way-- probably to somehow support different boards, but it should be a lot easier than this.

I'll definitely try this though, thank you.

edit: got it, my GOD. Had to put some force into it with the screwdriver. Thanks again all. Moving on!

The most annoying part of my PC build easily was putting on the 212 EVO. If you can do this, you can do just about anything PC related, lol.

 

[brandonh83]

The most annoying part of my PC build easily was putting on the 212 EVO. If you can do this, you can do just about anything PC related, lol.

That makes me feel better haha. Yeah it was pretty grueling. The beer probably isn't helping, but it's helping with the headache so that's something.

Anyway I'm kind of at a point of limbo; sort of but not really. I have the motherboard, CPU, CPU cooler all situated and next I'm moving onto the power supply, but the case I got came with several plastic bags of screws and I'm not sure which is "supposed" to be the motherboard.

There was a bag with motherboard standoffs and other screws so I assumed those were the right ones, but as it turns out I got 3/4 screws in but those three are different in shape and length from the others. So I'm not sure if it actually matters or if each set of screws is actually designated for something specific, which is weirding me out.

I just try to get through life via logic and today has been like lol fuck that. To be honest, it's been mostly fun, exciting and a heavy learning experience and I have no regrets yet. I'm kind of concerned about the thermal paste as I'm not sure I put much on, and while having a climactic duel with the X bracket some of it came off. But there's still a layer of it. I'm just hoping it's enough.

 

[kuYuri]

That makes me feel better haha. Yeah it was pretty grueling. The beer probably isn't helping, but it's helping with the headache so that's something.

Anyway I'm kind of at a point of limbo; sort of but not really. I have the motherboard, CPU, CPU cooler all situated and next I'm moving onto the power supply, but the case I got came with several plastic bags of screws and I'm not sure which is "supposed" to be the motherboard.

There was a bag with motherboard standoffs and other screws so I assumed those were the right ones, but as it turns out I got 3/4 screws in but those three are different in shape and length from the others. So I'm not sure if it actually matters or if each set of screws is actually designated for something specific, which is weirding me out.

I just try to get through life via logic and today has been like lol fuck that. To be honest, it's been mostly fun, exciting and a heavy learning experience and I have no regrets yet. I'm kind of concerned about the thermal paste as I'm not sure I put much on, and while having a climactic duel with the X bracket some of it came off. But there's still a layer of it. I'm just hoping it's enough.

Does the manual for your case label the screws in anyway? I bought a Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 5 recently to replace my Corsair 200R and the manual for the case labels how many and which ones in the manual, at least sorta.

Very convenient for me.

 

[electroflame]

EVGA's having a sale on PC parts starting today.

I grabbed the X99 Classified for my X99 build. It was a bit more than I wanted to pay, but EVGA's X99 parts are hard to find from reputable places, and I really wanted an EVGA board for the customer service. After shipping and tax, it came out to ~$342, for anyone wondering ($299 for the board after the $80 discount).

Basically, today's the day I committed to an X99 build. I'm pretty psyched, I've just gotta monitor the rest of the parts for the build, since the prices went up on a few things in the past couple of days. Here's my current plans:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($419.23 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BL 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($85.98 @ Amazon)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($7.75 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: EVGA Classified EATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (Purchased For $342.24)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($138.87 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($158.02 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($118.23 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($107.48 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 OEM (64-bit) (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $1377.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

The only iffy thing here is whether or not the X99 Classified will fit well in the Fractal Define R5. The R5 doesn't officially support E-ATX boards, but I've seen reports of people fitting up to 10.65 inch wide boards in it (the X99 Classified is 10.375), so I'm hopeful.

 

[e90Mark]

EVGA's having a sale on PC parts starting today.

I grabbed the X99 Classified for my X99 build. It was a bit more than I wanted to pay, but EVGA's X99 parts are hard to find from reputable places, and I really wanted an EVGA board for the customer service. After shipping and tax, it came out to ~$342, for anyone wondering ($299 for the board after the $80 discount).

Basically, today's the day I committed to an X99 build. I'm pretty psyched, I've just gotta monitor the rest of the parts for the build, since the prices went up on a few things in the past couple of days. Here's my current plans:



The only iffy thing here is whether or not the X99 Classified will fit well in the Fractal Define R5. The R5 doesn't officially support E-ATX boards, but I've seen reports of people fitting up to 10.65 inch wide boards in it (the X99 Classified is 10.375), so I'm hopeful.

Literally was just looking at their sale. Was interested in their mini itx board they had.

That price for the 5820k makes me smh, when I can get it for literally $100 less at Micro Center, lol.

 

[dinosaur_hunter2]

GAF, all the parts arrived and I'll have a very busy saturday assembling my new PC! Thank you again for this thread.

 

[e90Mark]

So many people building glorious computers this weekend. It's awesome.

 

[dinosaur_hunter2]

So many people building glorious computers this weekend. It's awesome.

Tell me about it!

It's been four years since I built my gaming PC (using the recommended bundles from this thread). I had to wait for a whole year to receive my bonus from the company I work for to buy my new PC. Totally worth the patience!

Can't describe the feeling, really. Being a software engineer myself, it's always a pleasure to build a new computer (and to see other people doing the same, of course).

 

[Hikami]

It lives! Got my first PC built and running.. took me like 4 hours.

Pics later because I'm concerned about something. So when I start it up (and only on start up), the CPU fan kind of like revs up, stops, and then just spins normally. Is that normal?

Then there's the case fan that just stops spinning at times and starts spinning again later. Not sure what's going on here.

 

[dinosaur_hunter2]

It lives! Got my first PC built and running.. took me like 4 hours.

Pics later because I'm concerned about something. So when I start it up (and only on start up), the CPU fan kind of like revs up, stops, and then just spins normally. Is that normal?

Then there's the case fan that just stops spinning at times and starts spinning again later. Not sure what's going on here.

Are you sure there's nothing in the way of the case fan? Sometimes a wire gets clogged up in the fan, causing the behavior you're describing.

Also, my old computer's CPU fan did the same thing as yours. Being using it for four years now with no problem. Don't know what causes it, though.

 

[EVA UNIT 01]

GAF, all the parts arrived and I'll have a very busy saturday assembling my new PC! Thank you again for this thread.

If I can do it anyone can!

 

[Brandon F]

Really thinking of snagging an m.2 drive. Any reliable way to transfer my current is partition to the new drive without entirely clean installing?

 

[Beerman462]

Don't know if this has been brought up in here before, but after building my PC I was exposed to some very surprising information.

I bought an ASRock Z170 Pro 4 motherboard and while looking for overclocking guides I kept getting this article.

ASRock Non-K overclocking guide

Depending on your budget you should only consider these CPUs:

Pentium G4400
Core i3-6100
Core i3-6300
Core i5-6400
Core i7-6700
All of the CPUs should easily reach 4400-4500 MHz and a high multiplier is not needed because you can compensate everything with the BCLK.

Apparently ASRock has a bios that allows for overclocking non-K Skylake processors. Alot of people are hitting 4.5GHz on 6400 processors. I paid about $100 for my motherboard so getting a 6500 or 6400 and overclocking seems like a great deal.

Hell you can overclock i3s and Pentiums as well.

 

[kennah]

That's been known about for a while. But Intel is possibly pushing microcode to disable it soon , so it might not be a long term solution.

 

[7DollarHagane]

I've now realized that the case fans I have are loud as fuck.

What's normal for a pc? I have two intake fans on the front, one on the side, and one outtake out the back, and a big cooler master cooler.

I have a fractal design r3 case. Using the stock fans and two cheap fans I bought at a local computer store.

 

[Beerman462]

That's been known about for a while. But Intel is possibly pushing microcode to disable it soon , so it might not be a long term solution.

Is the microcode internal to the CPU?

 

[Massa]

So it might be too early to ask about this, but the idea has been in my mind for a while now and I'm curious to hear what people think.

I am really, really excited for Mirror's Edge Catalyst, and even though we don't know the system requirements yet, I'm thinking I'm going to want something better than my GTX 970. I want to be able to play the game in stereoscopic 3D (via TriDef Ignition), which generally cuts the framerate in half. In order to do that on high settings @ 60 fps, I think I'm going to want a 980 TI.

I can easily afford a 980 Ti (or at least, I will be able to come May), but I don't think I play enough AAA games for it to be a justifiable purchase. For comparison, since I built my current PC last summer, I've played a total of three graphically-intensive games (Tomb Raider 2013, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and—if it even counts—Life is Strange). The only thing I'd really end up using the 980 Ti for is Mirror's Edge.

So...

What if I was to buy a used 980 Ti on May 24, with the expectation that I'd be able to resell it myself 2-3 months later for either the same amount or a small (<$50) loss? What are the chances that this would actually work out? Market-disrupting Pascal cards won't be out earlier than September, right?

You will lose more than $50 when selling that card. Keep an eye for good deals on used ones, that may be your best chance. There will also be a beta for the game you could use to test your current card.

Also worth keeping in mind is that I'd expect Mirror's Edge do particularly well on AMD cards with DirectX 12, with it being a DICE game.

 

[Hikami]

Are you sure there's nothing in the way of the case fan? Sometimes a wire gets clogged up in the fan, causing the behavior you're describing.

Also, my old computer's CPU fan did the same thing as yours. Being using it for four years now with no problem. Don't know what causes it, though.

Found the problem, it was the GPU fan that actually had some cables brushing up against it. Everything seems to be working perfectly now.

 

[electroflame]

Literally was just looking at their sale. Was interested in their mini itx board they had.

That price for the 5820k makes me smh, when I can get it for literally $100 less at Micro Center, lol.

Yeah, I was originally going to go with the X99 Micro 2 (which also looks like a great board). I'm not doing a Mini-ATX build, though, so I wanted the larger board for future expandability. The Micro 2 still looked great, though (and it's pretty cheap on sale!).

I'm not too thrilled about the price on the 5820k (probably wait as long as I can hold myself back). I'd totally be down for the Micro Center price, but, alas, there's no Micro Center even remotely close to me.

 

[jet1911]

Where are you looking at a GTX 970 for $460? Those cards typically run about $300.

Not in Canada!

 

[Bloodember]

It lives! Got my first PC built and running.. took me like 4 hours.

Pics later because I'm concerned about something. So when I start it up (and only on start up), the CPU fan kind of like revs up, stops, and then just spins normally. Is that normal?

Then there's the case fan that just stops spinning at times and starts spinning again later. Not sure what's going on here.

Some boards actually do that on initial startup. I believe the board is doing some kind of test. I had to look it up because mine does that. My board is an Asrock Fatality ITX Z170 board. For clarification I'm talking about the very first time you start your computer up or after any component change or fiddling with the board.

 

[holygeesus]

I've now realized that the case fans I have are loud as fuck.

What's normal for a pc? I have two intake fans on the front, one on the side, and one outtake out the back, and a big cooler master cooler.

I have a fractal design r3 case. Using the stock fans and two cheap fans I bought at a local computer store.

Everybody is different. I only have one bottom front and one at the top back, but I have good airflow as all my cages have been ripped out of the case and I have modular cabling all hidden behind the motherboard. Fractal fans are notoriously quiet, and I can't hear mine at all. With my Noctua CPU heatsink and lack of mechanical drives, my machine is nigh on silent.

 

[RGM79]

Like I said in this post, with a help of a friend I disassembled the rig and cleaned a bit more. We applied a new thermal paste and now the temps dropped even further from 26-29ºC when using just Chrome+Discord from the original 45!! It's probably a combination of new thermal plaste, all the cleaning and the improved airflow. After helping me choose the parts when I first bought the rig, you guys helped me a lot again and I can't thank you enough!

I also decided to swap my GTX 770 for a 970 instead of waiting for Pascal and I have to say that I should have done this before as the jump is performance for such a low cost (~150&#8364; + the division key) is outstanding! From 2.5 to 7.5 in the Steam VR Test and from 6.5 to 9.5 in the 3DMark one.

My build now is:

i5 3570k
asus p8z77v-lk
gskill 2x 8gb 2400MHz CL11
msi g1 gtx 970
xfx 650w
fractal r4
hyper 212 evo
crucial mx100 250gb
WD 1TB blue

I'm thinking about further improvements now that I have some extra &#8364; to spend (100/200&#8364 and I've been thinking about getting a Phanteks P400S which seems really good for the price and maybe a Corsair H100 cooler instead of the hyper 212. What do you suggest?

Thanks for the tip once again! Did just that

The P400 and P400S look nice, but the Define R4 is still a decent case. I dunno if you're hoping to get even better temperatures or not, but you probably won't get even lower than you're getting now.

Corsair H100 is kinda old, did you mean the the newer Corsair H1__ GT or GTX models? When it comes to CPU cooler I tend to recommend air coolers rather than water coolers, but that's just me. A more expensive water cooler would allow you to overclock higher (don't recall if you're already overclocking) but if you aren't overclocking, there's not much point.

It lives! Got my first PC built and running.. took me like 4 hours.

Pics later because I'm concerned about something. So when I start it up (and only on start up), the CPU fan kind of like revs up, stops, and then just spins normally. Is that normal?

Then there's the case fan that just stops spinning at times and starts spinning again later. Not sure what's going on here.

Some boards actually do that on initial startup. I believe the board is doing some kind of test. I had to look it up because mine does that. My board is an Asrock Fatality ITX Z170 board. For clarification I'm talking about the very first time you start your computer up or after any component change or fiddling with the board.

If you have fan speed set to a low setting, the computer will rev the fans hard when starting up because some fans have their speed controlled by voltage. A fan that hasn't started spinning yet might not spin if the voltage applied to it is too low, so the computer gives it a shot of higher voltage to make sure it's spinning then lowers the voltage to slow it down.

 

[holygeesus]

I cannot recommend the Noctua NH-D15 enough, if you want to stick with air cooling. The temperature/noise ratio is outstanding.

 

[Jzero]

I cannot recommend the Noctua NH-D15 enough, if you want to stick with air cooling. The temperature/noise ratio is outstanding.

Their thermal paste is freaking boss too. Arctic Silver 5 is overrated.

 

[Hikami]

If you have fan speed set to a low setting, the computer will rev the fans hard when starting up because some fans have their speed controlled by voltage. A fan that hasn't started spinning yet might not spin if the voltage applied to it is too low, so the computer gives it a shot of higher voltage to make sure it's spinning then lowers the voltage to slow it down.

Ah, one of my older PCs did this too now that I think about it. Just wish it wasn't so obnoxiously loud.

 

[brandonh83]

Does the manual for your case label the screws in anyway? I bought a Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 5 recently to replace my Corsair 200R and the manual for the case labels how many and which ones in the manual, at least sorta.

Very convenient for me.

I don't think so but I'll check again tomorrow when I resume my journey. Thanks for your help.

 

[theRizzle]

I cannot recommend the Noctua NH-D15 enough, if you want to stick with air cooling. The temperature/noise ratio is outstanding.

Yep. If you can fit it in your case and afford it, it's amazing. Got my 6700k up to 4.5 while still on the lowest fan speed. Hard to imagine a better air cooler. (Though I'm sure there is one out there somewhere)

 

[Megalosaro]

I decided to get a new gaming pc (and Oculus) with my tax refund.

I have a budget of about $1,000 to work with. Should that get me some decendt?

 

[Schrödinger's cat]

Hi, allow me to get straight to the point:

Could anyone tell me how common is HDMI audio in today's graphics cards?

--

Background: After six and a half years it's time for me to get a new PC. My current PC sits in the same rooms as my consoles and outputs to a basic 4:3 monitor and also my flatscreen TV via HDMI. My current videocard has HDMI audio output - so PC audio is directed to my TV once I make it the primary display. I'm looking to replicate this for the new PC but struggle to find HDMI audio mentioned on the specs of the cards I look at.

Rather than build myself, I'm having the vendor build for me. They fluctuate between different brands of videocards for each spec offered so I may not be able to specify one myself.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

 

[theRizzle]

100% of video cards with HDMI will send audio out as well.

 

[BUNTING1243]

This is probably a really big question but I am new at this and lost so here goes:

What is the baseline price/build I need to play most current and upcoming games at 1440p/60? Is it noticeably worth it to go for that over 1080p/60?

Thanks!

 

[theRizzle]

This is probably a really big question but I am new at this and lost so here goes:

What is the baseline price/build I need to play most current and upcoming games at 1440p/60? Is it noticeably worth it to go for that over 1080p/60?

Thanks!

On High/Ultra? It doesn't really exist yet. I mean, a 980ti is SUPER good, but GTAV on Very High isn't even hitting 60 on that card at 1440p. You could get two though... There is a new refresh of nVidia cards expected soon that are supposed to bring significant gains. You probably want to wait for that.

 

[Schrödinger's cat]

100% of video cards with HDMI will send audio out as well.

Awesome. Thank you.

 

[LilJoka]

That's been known about for a while. But Intel is possibly pushing microcode to disable it soon , so it might not be a long term solution.

Just don't update bios. Bigger problem is lack of c states and temp monitoring.

And I'm sure someone will mod the bios to either swap out the ucode of mod new features in like temp monitoring.

 

[mrklaw]

Yeah, this so far has been an absolute pain. I realize putting stuff together isn't always easy but this feels pointlessly annoying lol. I'll just have to take it real slow. The main annoyance apart from that is that it's very hard to keep the cooler standing up as you're trying to work with the bracket. I'm not sure why it was built this way-- probably to somehow support different boards, but it should be a lot easier than this.

I'll definitely try this though, thank you.

edit: got it, my GOD. Had to put some force into it with the screwdriver. Thanks again all. Moving on!

This and your problems with the CPU, poor instructions, and motherboard backplate are why I often shake my head at people pushing others to build their own PC when they clearly aren't comfortable with the idea. This isn't a knock on this fantastic thread, just an observation.

If you're a seasoned vet you just fly through these stages. But if you're a noob you'll be stressing the hell out.

- It's computers right? The instructions should be clear and unambiguous.
- CPUs are fragile little things with millions of little pins. Why am I putting my entire body weight on this CPU lever?
- why do my fans only have three holes on the plug but the motherboard has four? Or vice versa


Of course With amazing resources like this thread and a few youtube videos you'll do fine. But it's like many specialised areas - it's only easy if you know the answers.

Anyway - good luck with the build. It's always interesting to hear the real world problems people have. I was similarly lost when I did mine

 

[mrklaw]

I cannot recommend the Noctua NH-D15 enough, if you want to stick with air cooling. The temperature/noise ratio is outstanding.

Will fit in a bitfenix prodigy?

I love my water cooling but the constant pump noise can be annoying when the room is quiet. Having tried to make the rest of the computer quiet just amplifies it (quiet case fans, PSU with passive cooling at low load, GPU with passive cooling at low temps)

 

[Sky Chief]

Yeah, this so far has been an absolute pain. I realize putting stuff together isn't always easy but this feels pointlessly annoying lol. I'll just have to take it real slow. The main annoyance apart from that is that it's very hard to keep the cooler standing up as you're trying to work with the bracket. I'm not sure why it was built this way-- probably to somehow support different boards, but it should be a lot easier than this.

I'll definitely try this though, thank you.

edit: got it, my GOD. Had to put some force into it with the screwdriver. Thanks again all. Moving on!

This is why I disagree with people who say that air cooling is just as good or better than using an AIO liquid cooler. Installing a huge heat sync is a pain in the ass, super fiddly and always used to be by far the hardest part of any build I ever did. Never going back to air, using an AIO liquid cooler is so much easier.

 

[LilJoka]

Seems like people always struggle with the hyper 212 install. So after 100s of applications here's my tips

Install the cooler outside the case
The stubbed screws that pass through the board and rear bracket are keyed, a flat edge must be aligned with the hole in the bracket.

Get the collapsible X bracket and check it aligns correctly over the mount screws.

Before mounting the Heatsink, get the collapsible Cross bracket and put it through the Heatsink, and then expand it. Note that the bracket has a pin that slots into notch in the cooler.

Now mount the Heatsink and screw it in. This prevents you fumbling with that X bracket after mounting the Heatsink so you don't mess up the paste.

It's a 5 minute job really, maybe I'll make a video if anyone is interested for our thread.

 

[Jzero]

I decided to get a new gaming pc (and Oculus) with my tax refund.

I have a budget of about $1,000 to work with. Should that get me some decendt?

No, you would only be able to afford a $400 computer. That's just enough for a graphics card.

 

[hateradio]

No, you would only be able to afford a $400 computer. That's just enough for a graphics card.

It may mean that the budget is $1000 for the PC.

However, VR wouldn't be optimal at that price range, I think.

 

[LilJoka]

Holy shit WTF is up with the "X" bracket that mounts the CPU fan above the motherboard (on the 212 Evo)? When I screw a few in, the opposite side is lifted up away from the screw holes. I've been reading online and other people have had the same problem.

Here's a link discussing the very same problem

Usually happens if the pin on the bracket is not sitting inside the notch on the cooler.

 

[Sky Chief]

I decided to get a new gaming pc (and Oculus) with my tax refund.

I have a budget of about $1,000 to work with. Should that get me some decendt?

I would look at the "Great" build in the OP and upgrade the GPU to a 970 (I believe that's the minimum for the Rift). Should come in at just under $1000 but you'll still need to buy Windows, a keyboard, a mouse, and monitor if you don't have those things already.

Also you of course need to buy the Rift which is $600.

That would be a pretty great general gaming PC but I doubt it would be very future proof for VR because you are just meeting the minimum spec.

Also, have you preordered your Rift yet because if you order one right now you won't get it until July. In 4-5 months you might be able to get a slightly better system for your $1000.