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[THE:MILKMAN]

I can figure out a UK parts list, give me some time. If you don't need the higher performance, yes you can go with an i3 processor. New features like USB 3.1 and USB type C options are usually only built into the higher end Z170 motherboards though, such as the Gigabyte model I listed. It's a bit silly to pair an i3 processor with a Z170 motherboard (which is compatible but meant to be paired with a K model processor for added features like overclocking).

Today is ordering day but what you say above in bold has made me stop and think...

I've looked at Gigabyte's site and you're right about the features on high end boards.The only H170 board that has USB 3.1 (a feature I really would like) is the GA-H170-D3HP and that is no good for me as I need m-ATX! Even my brother said I'd be crazy to go for the Gaming-5 board as I built his current Z87/i5/970 rig last year.

Given USB 3.1 is an absolute must feature, what are my options (any brand) that you think would be more suitable for the specs? Or are there higher feature boards coming that aren't aimed at the enthusiast gamer/OC'ers?

 

[cHinzo]

Nvm.

 

[junpei]

Can you take a photo of both the inside of the case and where you have the video cable attached.

https://imgur.com/gallery/Qf9dY

Do you know what key you need to mash to get into the BIOS? Try hitting that anyway and see if it pops up.

F2

 

[dorn.]

Okay GAF I need some help. I recently upgraded to an r9 390 which generally runs well, until I start a benchmark, which hard crashes my PC. My first fear was that I need a new power supply, but on paper my current one should actually be enough. It's a 530w Be Quiet that should be able to deliver 430w on the 12v line. The card has a max TDP of 275w and my (non-overclocked) 3570k a TDP of 77w. According to GPU-Z the card only gets 11.5v on the 12v line, which goes down to 11.1v just before the crash according to the log. So is my power supply just fucked or is there something else I missed?

 

[RGM79]

Today is ordering day but what you say above in bold has made me stop and think...

I've looked at Gigabyte's site and you're right about the features on high end boards.The only H170 board that has USB 3.1 (a feature I really would like) is the GA-H170-D3HP and that is no good for me as I need m-ATX! Even my brother said I'd be crazy to go for the Gaming-5 board as I built his current Z87/i5/970 rig last year.

Given USB 3.1 is an absolute must feature, what are my options (any brand) that you think would be more suitable for the specs? Or are there higher feature boards coming that aren't aimed at the enthusiast gamer/OC'ers?

You could go with a cheaper B150 or H170 motherboard and then get separate USB 3.1 support in the form of an add-in card. I'm not exactly sure how reliable those are though, and I believe a card length of PCI-E x4 is desirable for higher performance... or not? Asus, ASRock, and Gigabyte stand out as the better known brands on that list, I have no idea about the other brands listed there.

Okay GAF I need some help. I recently upgraded to an r9 390 which generally runs well, until I start a benchmark, which hard crashes my PC. My first fear was that I need a new power supply, but on paper my current one should actually be enough. It's a 530w Be Quiet that should be able to deliver 430w on the 12v line. The card has a max TDP of 275w and my (non-overclocked) 3570k a TDP of 77w. According to GPU-Z the card only gets 11.5v on the 12v line, which goes down to 11.1v just before the crash according to the log. So is my power supply just fucked or is there something else I missed?

Replace the power supply. Only 430 watts on the 12V rail is a bit low, and you have to consider that parts like the motherboard and storage drives and fans will draw some wattage as well. I'm not sure how accurate software can be when trying to read power supply voltages so if you really want to make sure you should use a multimeter or a power supply tester, but if it really does drop down to 11.5V and 11.1V then that is no good. Official ATX power supply guidelines state that voltages for a power supply should be within a ±5% tolerance, that is, the voltage for a 12V rail should not vary more than 11.40V to 12.60V. Well made power supplies when stressed won't stray very far from 12.00V to begin with, such as the EVGA B2 unit that I usually recommend which never changes by more than ~0.22V on the 12V rail. Your PSU dropping to 11.1V is either a sign that it's poor quality, dying, and/or struggling to deal with the strain of powering everything.

Edit: you say it crashes when attempting to run a benchmark, but does it also crash when you try to play games? What benchmark are you running? What graphics card did you have before?

 

[bomblord1]

https://imgur.com/gallery/Qf9dY


F2

The power cable isn't plugged in

You gotta plug in both of those.

 

[digitalrelic]

Well I was able to find a great deal on some RAM so I'm upgrading from my 16GB 1866mhz to the following:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231589

2400mhz 10-12-12-31 timings.

Think I'll see any FPS improvement with my i7 4790k & 980 Ti setup? I got the pair for $50, so I figured it was worth a go.

 

[dorn.]

Replace the power supply. Only 430 watts on the 12V rail is a bit low, and you have to consider that parts like the motherboard and storage drives and fans will draw some wattage as well. I'm not sure how accurate software can be when trying to read power supply voltages so if you really want to make sure you should use a multimeter or a power supply tester, but if it really does drop down to 11.5V and 11.1V then that is no good. Official ATX power supply guidelines state that voltages for a power supply should be within a ±5% tolerance, that is, the voltage for a 12V rail should not vary more than 11.40V to 12.60V. Well made power supplies when stressed won't stray very far from 12.00V to begin with, such as the EVGA B2 unit that I usually recommend which never changes by more than ~0.22V on the 12V rail. Your PSU dropping to 11.1V is either a sign that it's poor quality, dying, and/or struggling to deal with the strain of powering everything.

Edit: you say it crashes when attempting to run a benchmark, but does it also crash when you try to play games? What benchmark are you running? What graphics card did you have before?

The benchmark where it crashed was Firestrike and it crashed immediately after loading, without rendering anything. Weirdly, the SteamVR performance test went without a hitch. The only other situation I got it to crash was by maxing out Max Payne 3, though admittedly I haven't done a whole lot else that's demanding yet. Before this I had a 6950.

I'll look into the EVGA one, they're pretty expensive in Germany though. Thanks!

 

[killertofu]

Somehow mashed the PCI pins on my computer...
feels bad man

 

[Big Papa Husker]

So I was about to buy a 390, which requires 2 8pin connections and realized my PSU only has 1 8pin PCI-E port and 2 6pin. Am I SOL? I saw there are 6 to 8pin adapters but I would be weary using one to power my $300 purchase. Should I just go for the 970 that has a 8pin+6pin connection?

 

[RGM79]

The benchmark where it crashed was Firestrike and it crashed immediately after loading, without rendering anything. Weirdly, the SteamVR performance test went without a hitch. The only other situation I got it to crash was by maxing out Max Payne 3, though admittedly I haven't done a whole lot else that's demanding yet. Before this I had a 6950.

I'll look into the EVGA one, they're pretty expensive in Germany though. Thanks!

Your old 6950 (~150 watts) consumes less power than the R9 390 (~250 watts), so you may be running into power issues here, especially if anything is overclocked. Perhaps you should try running more games, but I'd still suspect the PSU to be at fault here. Can you tell us your system specs, whether you're overclocking, and most importantly the brand and model of power supply?

When you say "hard crash".. does that mean the PC is frozen? black screen? or does it just shut down entirely? Some games and benchmarks can be more demanding than others. Furmark is a GPU stress testing utility that is well known for pushing graphics cards well beyond normal limits and can cause it to draw more power than if it were to be running most games, for example. I'm not sure how stressful Firestrike is compared to Furmark other than it definitely being less intensive and not making GPUs run as hot and hard.

Somehow mashed the PCI pins on my computer...
feels bad man

You pulled off the plastic slot? Ouch, that sucks.

So I was about to buy a 390, which requires 2 8pin connections and realized my PSU only has 1 8pin PCI-E port and 2 6pin. Am I SOL? I saw there are 6 to 8pin adapters but I would be weary using one to power my $300 purchase. Should I just go for the 970 that has a 8pin+6pin connection?

What brand and model of power supply do you have?

 

[Luckydog]

I have a question about DDR4 RAM. If I have a motherboard that is rated to support DDR at 2133 and I happen to have a DDR 4 kit rated at 3000Mhz, will that RAM still work on this board, just at the slower speed?

 

[RGM79]

I have a question about DDR4 RAM. If I have a motherboard that is rated to support DDR at 2133 and I happen to have a DDR 4 kit rated at 3000Mhz, will that RAM still work on this board, just at the slower speed?

Yes, that's correct. It'll still work, but run at the lower speed by default. What motherboard do you have?

 

[junpei]

The power cable isn't plugged in

You gotta plug in both of those.

Okay so that helped because the fans are moving now but still no signal. I was unsure if i could plug both of the PCI power connectors in at the same time because they are the all connected to the same cord. I figured I had to have one cable with the six pins and one different cable with the 8 pins .

 

[Luckydog]

Yes, that's correct. It'll still work, but run at the lower speed by default. What motherboard do you have?

Great, thank you. I just ordered a barebones system from MSI. The MSI X2:
https://us.msi.com/Desktop/Nightblade-X2.html#hero-overview

I had some gift cards and didn't want to start from scratch on a mini-ATX build.

 

[bomblord1]

Okay so that helped because the fans are moving now but still no signal. I was unsure if i could plug both of the PCI power connectors in at the same time because they are the all connected to the same cord. I figured I had to have one cable with the six pins and one different cable with the 8 pins .

Yea you can plug both into it it's meant for that actually.

Alright just to be certain you have the video cable plugged into the GPU correct?

Your video out should be plugged into one of these ports. Once a GPU is detected by the motherboard it will disable the motherboards video out.

If possible try a different cable and monitor to be sure it's not one of those

 

[Kudo]

Okay so that helped because the fans are moving now but still no signal. I was unsure if i could plug both of the PCI power connectors in at the same time because they are the all connected to the same cord. I figured I had to have one cable with the six pins and one different cable with the 8 pins .

If you don't get signal trying other methods, plug back your old GPU and update the BIOS, seems like there is lots of updates for your motherboard so could help the issue, though I'm not sure if BIOS can be the culprit here.

Make sure all cables are properly seated and maybe if you have another computer to try it on, could rule out faulty GPU.

 

[Big Papa Husker]

What brand and model of power supply do you have?

It's an old ass UltraX3 800w that I bought when I first built my PC in 2009. It still seems to be working ok, so I've never upgraded it.

 

[mysocksarepink]

Just bought a 6700k (from 2500k) and 16gb ddr4 -2400 (from 8gb 1600)

Hoping to see some decent jumps paired with my 980ti

 

[joecanada]

So...... I was going to upgrade graphics card but then I realized my pc came with this psu....

turbolink atx xg500W which I figured should be okay to run a r9 380 or a gtx 960 say, but looking this thing up it looks like it's well.... the only review I could find said it was
"smash with hammer " rated lol.

so I'm wondering if PSU should now top my list for next item (also as an aside, the current psu doesn't even have 6 pin connectors or whatever so I'd be limited to type of GPU as well)

bonus question - how hard/high risk is replacing psu?

 

[junpei]

Yea you can plug both into it it's meant for that actually.

Alright just to be certain you have the video cable plugged into the GPU correct?
Your video out should be plugged into one of these ports. Once a GPU is detected by the motherboard it will disable the motherboards video out.

If possible try a different cable and monitor to be sure it's not one of those

That is the thing I don't think that that motherboard is recognizing the new card . there is no video out for the motherboard. The only video outs are on the GPU . I have switched monitors and cable types (dvi,HDMI) and they are not the issue. When I plug back in the old card all is well. Should I use a different PCI slot for the new card ? When I install the new card I make sure that the system is off and unplugged for the wall for at least a couple of minutes before I begin working on it .

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

Just bought a 6700k (from 2500k) and 16gb ddr4 -2400 (from 8gb 1600)

Hoping to see some decent jumps paired with my 980ti

I would have purchased some better ram. Though you should still be able to clock it up around 3000 if you up the voltage.

 

[mysocksarepink]

I would have purchased some better ram. Though you should still be able to clock it up around 3000 if you up the voltage.

I'm hoping to get it up to about 2800


Crucial ballistix ram

 

[RGM79]

Great, thank you. I just ordered a barebones system from MSI. The MSI X2:
https://us.msi.com/Desktop/Nightblade-X2.html#hero-overview

I had some gift cards and didn't want to start from scratch on a mini-ATX build.

I can't find anything concrete because there's a lack of information about the Nightblade X2 (the PDF file link from the official specifications page is uselessly blank), but this review says it has a specialized Z170 motherboard that has features from MSI's line of gaming enthusiast motherboards. That means it should likely support running your DDR4 memory kit at 3000MHz. By default the RAM will run at 2133MHz, but you'll just have to find the appropriate setting in the BIOS menu to get it to run at 3000MHz. The easy way is to look for an option called XMP and enable it or set the memory profile setting to the XMP option. If that doesn't work or if you can't find that setting, you'll have to play around with manual memory settings, if the BIOS has those options.

 

[bomblord1]

That is the thing I don't think that that motherboard is recognizing the new card . there is no video out for the motherboard. The only video outs are on the GPU . I have switched monitors and cable types (dvi,HDMI) and they are not the issue. When I plug back in the old card all is well. Should I use a different PCI slot for the new card ? When I install the new card I make sure that the system is off and unplugged for the wall for at least a couple of minutes before I begin working on it .

Yea try a different slot

 

[RGM79]

So...... I was going to upgrade graphics card but then I realized my pc came with this psu....

turbolink atx xg500W which I figured should be okay to run a r9 380 or a gtx 960 say, but looking this thing up it looks like it's well.... the only review I could find said it was
"smash with hammer " rated lol.

so I'm wondering if PSU should now top my list for next item (also as an aside, the current psu doesn't even have 6 pin connectors or whatever so I'd be limited to type of GPU as well)

bonus question - how hard/high risk is replacing psu?

Yeah, I'd highly recommend replacing it. Not having 6 or 6+2 or 8 pin power cables for graphics cards will prevent you from upgrading to any decent graphics cards. As far as I know, there are no R9 380 or GTX 960 cards that don't require a power cable, so you are required to upgrade it before getting either of those graphics cards.

It's usually not too hard to replace the power supply. It's a matter of unplugging all of the power cables, undoing the 4 screws on the back of the PC that hold the power supply in, and then gently lifting the power supply out of the case. Putting one in is the same procedure in reverse. The only annoying parts might be dealing with a tangle of cables or tidying things up so there aren't a mess of cables lying around inside the case.

It's an old ass UltraX3 800w that I bought when I first built my PC in 2009. It still seems to be working ok, so I've never upgraded it.

It has more than enough power to handle an R9 390, and reviews seem good. Are you sure you don't have enough power cables? According to this review, it has four 6 pin power cables and two 8 pin power cables.

 

[DeathByBacklog]

Welp looks like I'm having some 'puter problems. Narrowed it down to the PSU at this point.

Looking at Evga Supernova 650 Gs. Physical dimensions affect my decision. It's going into a Dell XPS 8500. There are USB ports on the top of the case so it restricts the length of any psu replacement. It's upgrading a factory 460W psu. Current graphics card is factory GeForce GTX 660.

Any thoughts on the power supply?

Also for Canadian Gaffers. Has anyone ever purchase from DirectCanada.com? Are they any good? That psu is coming out cheapest there. Just wanted to make sure the retailer is on the up and up.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Big Papa Husker]

It has more than enough power to handle an R9 390, and reviews seem good. Are you sure you don't have enough power cables? According to this review, it has four 6 pin power cables and two 8 pin power cables.

It only has 1 8pin port on the PSU and 4 6pin ports.

 

[sfried]

I have a question concerning throttling, increasing the Power Limit on GPU, and the most recent AMD Crimson drivers. (New owner of an R9 Nano)

Considering I can turn the new Power Efficientcy off manually to disable GPU throttling, does that mean I no longer need to increase the Power Limit via MSI Afterburner and the like? I am still looking into other things like undervolting, but now I feel like setup is simplified thanks to not needing too many 3rd party apps to solve the max clocks.

Mobo finally arrived. Need to sort out some shipment involving RAM (had cancelled an order, and just recently refused its package so that it could be sent back), otherwise all I'm doing now is waiting for the rebats/refunds to trickle in so I can use the credit to purchase the last of the parts.

I've been thinking about going i7-6700 non-k, but everyone likes to assume I don't do anything but game and internet on my PC: I do a lot of drawings/illustrations too using PainttoolSAI and most recently ClipStudioPaint, along with a few more editing programs like Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator. That and I also use OBS to stream occassionally on picarto. Considering that I am seriously thinking of acquiring an M.2 drive, I might as well use the horsepower for some video editing.

 

[Luckydog]

I can't find anything concrete because there's a lack of information about the Nightblade X2 (the PDF file link from the official specifications page is uselessly blank), but this review says it has a specialized Z170 motherboard that has features from MSI's line of gaming enthusiast motherboards. That means it should likely support running your DDR4 memory kit at 3000MHz. By default the RAM will run at 2133MHz, but you'll just have to find the appropriate setting in the BIOS menu to get it to run at 3000MHz. The easy way is to look for an option called XMP and enable it or set the memory profile setting to the XMP option. If that doesn't work or if you can't find that setting, you'll have to play around with manual memory settings, if the BIOS has those options.

Sounds good. I should have the kit shortly and will try it out. Thanks for the help.

 

[Crisium]

I have a question concerning throttling, increasing the Power Limit on GPU, and the most recent AMD Crimson drivers. (New owner of an R9 Nano)

Considering I can turn the new Power Efficientcy off manually to disable GPU throttling, does that mean I no longer need to increase the Power Limit via MSI Afterburner and the like? I am still looking into other things like undervolting, but now I feel like setup is simplified thanks to not needing too many 3rd party apps to solve the max clocks.

I'm not sure. I've noticed the Power Efficiency Off helped my regular Fury avoid throttling, but as you know the Nano is designed with an extra thermal limit to target an arbitrarily low TDP. I'd wager you should do both: Pwr Eff Off and Thermal Limit increased. Even if you don't intend to use MSI Afterburner in the longterm it may be best to test with it temporarily to see what your clock rate tends to be with those two settings vs only 1 or neither of them. It is a card that needs tweaked/babysitted (depending on your perspective) to get the best performance.

So I was about to buy a 390, which requires 2 8pin connections and realized my PSU only has 1 8pin PCI-E port and 2 6pin. Am I SOL? I saw there are 6 to 8pin adapters but I would be weary using one to power my $300 purchase. Should I just go for the 970 that has a 8pin+6pin connection?

FWIW, 2x6pin and 1x8pin both are rated to deliver 150 Watts. Some cards even ship with adapters for situations such as these. If your 390 comes with one you'll be fine, check pictures of the box contents. Also, most 390s actually use 1x6pin + 1x8pin as that is the reference design, so you'll also be fine with one of those. Just avoid a 390 that is 2x8pin and does not come with an adapter. It's actually a challenge to try to find a 2x8pin 390 as they are rare.

 

[RGM79]

Welp looks like I'm having some 'puter problems. Narrowed it down to the PSU at this point.

Looking at Evga Supernova 650 Gs. Physical dimensions affect my decision. It's going into a Dell XPS 8500. There are USB ports on the top of the case so it restricts the length of any psu replacement. It's upgrading a factory 460W psu. Current graphics card is factory GeForce GTX 660.

Any thoughts on the power supply?

Also for Canadian Gaffers. Has anyone ever purchase from DirectCanada.com? Are they any good? That psu is coming out cheapest there. Just wanted to make sure the retailer is on the up and up.

Thanks in advance.

How much clearance is there for a replacement power supply? The EVGA GS 650 watt model is a well made PSU, but it is kinda expensive. How much are you thinking of spending? The cheapest I see that model going for is $116, for a similar amount of money you could get the higher end EVGA P2 650 watt model for $100 after rebate. Otherwise if you just need something simple and cheap, the EVGA 500B is $55 after $20 rebate.

Directcanada's operated by the same people who run NCIX. I ordered a 16GB kit of DDR4 RAM from Directcanada back in September. It was stated to be in stock, but it seems that they took way too many orders than what they had stock for and I had to wait 24 days from the day I ordered it before I received it. It was an agonizingly long wait, and only after complaining did they give me a $20 discount coupon for a future order. Otherwise, they seem alright.. so long as you don't need to get your order in a hurry.

It only has 1 8pin port on the PSU and 4 6pin ports.

It doesn't matter what the ports on the power supply itself are like. You only need to worry about how many connectors you have on the end of the modular cables. In the link I sent you, you can see that the cables have more than one connector on each end.

 

[DeathByBacklog]

How much clearance is there for a replacement power supply? The EVGA GS 650 watt model is a well made PSU, but it is kinda expensive. How much are you thinking of spending? The cheapest I see that model going for is $116, for a similar amount of money you could get the higher end EVGA P2 650 watt model for $100 after rebate. Otherwise if you just need something simple and cheap, the EVGA 500B is $55 after $20 rebate.

Directcanada's operated by the same people who run NCIX. I ordered a 16GB kit of DDR4 RAM from Directcanada back in September. It was stated to be in stock, but it seems that they took way too many orders than what they had stock for and I had to wait 24 days from the day I ordered it before I received it. It was an agonizingly long wait, and only after complaining did they give me a $20 discount coupon for a future order. Otherwise, they seem alright.. so long as you don't need to get your order in a hurry.

Not much room at all. See attached photo. Those USB ports are the black box up top. It seems anything past 6" will likely be pushing it. Looks like the P2 is 6.5 inches. The GS is 5.9".

Good to know that DirectCanada is legit.

 

[RGM79]

Not much room at all. See attached photo. Those USB ports are the black box up top. It seems anything past 6" will likely be pushing it. Looks like the P2 is 6.5 inches. The GS is 5.9".

Good to know that DirectCanada is legit.

Ah, I see. It looks like you're set on the GS, then.

 

[DeathByBacklog]

Ah, I see. It looks like you're set on the GS, then.

Yeah. I looked at other psu's but most of the really good ones were longer in length then what I could fit in the case. Now here's hoping the issues I'm having with my comp is in fact the psu.

 

[RGM79]

Yeah. I looked at other psu's but most of the really good ones were longer in length then what I could fit in the case. Now here's hoping the issues I'm having with my comp is in fact the psu.

Oh well, wanna tell us what problems you're having?

 

[bardia]

I need a little help in understanding what went wrong with my PC last night. I think my old seasonic psu blew up on me. I was brushing my teeth and I heard a loud pop noise and all the power in my room went off and none of the outlets were working. Took my pc to the living room, plugged it in and a huge spark came from the psu socket on the PC where the cable is plugged in.

I'm still unsure what caused it all, maybe a faulty power bar or was it actually time for my PSU to go? At this point I'm looking at just building a new i7 rig as my previous parts were all old except my 980Ti, hoping it didn't suffer any damage.

Any recommendations for a PSU so I don't run into this problem again?

 

[killertofu]

GTX 670s are still going for $120~~ on Ebay? That can't be right...right?

 

[RGM79]

I need a little help in understanding what went wrong with my PC last night. I think my old seasonic psu blew up on me. I was brushing my teeth and I heard a loud pop noise and all the power in my room went off and none of the outlets were working. Took my pc to the living room, plugged it in and a huge spark came from the psu socket on the PC where the cable is plugged in.

I'm still unsure what caused it all, maybe a faulty power bar or was it actually time for my PSU to go? At this point I'm looking at just building a new i7 rig as my previous parts were all old except my 980Ti, hoping it didn't suffer any damage.

Any recommendations for a PSU so I don't run into this problem again?

Seasonic is already one of the better PSU manufacturers, and unfortunately no company makes a product with 0% failure rate. Seasonic, XFX, Super Flower, and certain models of other brands like EVGA and Corsair are what you should go for. Here's a look at the relative quality of most well known PSU brands and product lines.

 

[DeathByBacklog]

Oh well, wanna tell us what problems you're having?

Sure...

System started to radomly lock up needing a hard boot to get things going. And then to boot back up again, it would hang forever on the widows 7 logo.


Problem with OS?. So thinking something got mucked up with a recent update, I did a factory restore of Win 7. That didn't clear the problem.

Problem with the SATA cables to the drive? Swapped out out the plug on the same run, and then used the plugs going to the cd rom and still had the same issues.

Problem with D drive? What I found out after that was that my my 2tb D: drive was radomly becoming inaccessible and then would completely drop out. No sign of it whatsoever. Tried to check the disc for any issues with it, and it locked up again coming back as a RAW disc. Thinking it was something wrong with the drive, I unplugged it completely and Windows 7 boots up in record time. So I swapped the drive out with other drives to determine if it was that drive. Same issues were happening on other drives only something else happened where the drive would show as drive D, then glitch and come back as Drive E. I plugged back in the drive I thought I was having issues with and it came back no problem (still took forever to boot but no longer reading as a RAW drive). I was able to access all files, then it glitched, came back as E and my cd rom drive at that point, disappeared.

Problem with the BIOS Battery? Bought a brand new battery...same problems.

Which ultimately lead me to conclude that there's something wrong with the PSU (hopefully). There appears to be no issues with anything else. The C drive is an SSD so there's likely enough power to run it but not for the SATA drive. If it's not that...I'm not sure where the problem could be coming from. But if anyone has any other ideas...

 

[RGM79]

Sure...

System started to radomly lock up needing a hard boot to get things going. And then to boot back up again, it would hang forever on the widows 7 logo.


Problem with OS?. So thinking something got mucked up with a recent update, I did a factory restore of Win 7. That didn't clear the problem.

Problem with the SATA cables to the drive? Swapped out out the plug on the same run, and then used the plugs going to the cd rom and still had the same issues.

Problem with D drive? What I found out after that was that my my 2tb D: drive was radomly becoming inaccessible and then would completely drop out. No sign of it whatsoever. Tried to check the disc for any issues with it, and it locked up again coming back as a RAW disc. Thinking it was something wrong with the drive, I unplugged it completely and Windows 7 boots up in record time. So I swapped the drive out with other drives to determine if it was that drive. Same issues were happening on other drives only something else happened where the drive would show as drive D, then glitch and come back as Drive E. I plugged back in the drive I thought I was having issues with and it came back no problem (still took forever to boot but no longer reading as a RAW drive). I was able to access all files, then it glitched, came back as E and my cd rom drive at that point, disappeared.

Problem with the BIOS Battery? Bought a brand new battery...same problems.

Which ultimately lead me to conclude that there's something wrong with the PSU (hopefully). There appears to be no issues with anything else. The C drive is an SSD so there's likely enough power to run it but not for the SATA drive. If it's not that...I'm not sure where the problem could be coming from. But if anyone has any other ideas...

Could be the motherboard as well, but that's hard to test for. I don't think the power supply would affect the hard drive like that. Drives failing to be accessed, connecting and disconnecting by themselves, and the PC taking a long time to boot seems more like motherboard (SATA) problems than a weak or failing power supply.

What are your system specs? A couple of years ago, Intel P67 motherboards originally shipped with a design flaw that meant after a couple of years, it was possible for certain SATA ports to become defective and fail.

Have you tried plugging the hard drive into other SATA ports?

 

[DeathByBacklog]

Could be the motherboard as well, but that's hard to test for. I don't think the power supply would affect the hard drive like that. Drives failing to be accessed, connecting and disconnecting by themselves, and the PC taking a long time to boot seems more like motherboard (SATA) problems than a weak or failing power supply.

What are your system specs? A couple of years ago, Intel P67 motherboards originally shipped with a design flaw that meant after a couple of years, it was possible for certain SATA ports to become defective and fail.

Have you tried plugging the hard drive into other SATA ports?

Well that's unsettling.

Intel Core i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz
RAM 16 GB
64 Bit OS

 

[Big Papa Husker]

How much clearance is there for a replacement power supply? The EVGA GS 650 watt model is a well made PSU, but it is kinda expensive. How much are you thinking of spending? The cheapest I see that model going for is $116, for a similar amount of money you could get the higher end EVGA P2 650 watt model for $100 after rebate. Otherwise if you just need something simple and cheap, the EVGA 500B is $55 after $20 rebate.

Directcanada's operated by the same people who run NCIX. I ordered a 16GB kit of DDR4 RAM from Directcanada back in September. It was stated to be in stock, but it seems that they took way too many orders than what they had stock for and I had to wait 24 days from the day I ordered it before I received it. It was an agonizingly long wait, and only after complaining did they give me a $20 discount coupon for a future order. Otherwise, they seem alright.. so long as you don't need to get your order in a hurry.



It doesn't matter what the ports on the power supply itself are like. You only need to worry about how many connectors you have on the end of the modular cables. In the link I sent you, you can see that the cables have more than one connector on each end.

Yeah, but don't I need 2 8pin ports on the PSU since the card needs 2 8pin ports?

 

[RGM79]

Yeah, but don't I need 2 8pin ports on the PSU since the card needs 2 8pin ports?

No. Did you look at the 8 pin PCI-E cables to make sure where to plug them in? Do you have the cables with you now? I apologize if it's not clear, but the only pictures I can find of the cables are tiny and blurry, so I have no idea what the 8 pin graphics card power cables look like on the end that plugs into the motherboard. If I had to guess, they either plug into the 6 pin ports or the molex ports. The single 8 pin EPS power port on the PSU is for CPU power and the other end plugs into the motherboard.

Well that's unsettling.

Intel Core i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz
RAM 16 GB
64 Bit OS

You said you had a Dell XPS 8500, the similar (but older?) XPS 8300 is one of the ones known to be affected. I would have thought the XPS 8500 came out after they fixed that problem, though. You can try following these steps to see if your PC has a motherboard with defective SATA ports.

 

[DeathByBacklog]

You said you had a Dell XPS 8500, the similar (but older?) XPS 8300 is one of the ones known to be affected. I would have thought the XPS 8500 came out after they fixed that problem, though. You can try following these steps to see if your PC has a motherboard with defective SATA ports.

Yeah it's the XPS 8500 Special Edition. You'd think if they went that far to make it "Special" they would have fixed up any known problems. I did a very broad google search for "troubles with XPS 8500" and didn't come up with any noteable problems.

I'll give that link you provided a try (thanks for that). Really hoping this isn't a mother board problem because that sounds like far more hassle then it's worth.

EDIT: Ok so here's what happened when I plugged the drive back in. Took FOREVER to boot. When it did boot up the drive appeared as drive E: with no sign of my blu-ray drive. After about a minute, there was a sound tone that a drive had been connected, and the blue ray drive appeared as drive D.

 

[Mystic654]

That's nice, real nice. I assume you built your rig with more than games in mind?

Temps under load? CPU and GPU clocks?

Also, I see you on overclocked.net

It's was designed for Video Editing and Capture.

 

[DeathByBacklog]

You said you had a Dell XPS 8500, the similar (but older?) XPS 8300 is one of the ones known to be affected. I would have thought the XPS 8500 came out after they fixed that problem, though. You can try following these steps to see if your PC has a motherboard with defective SATA ports.

Now what?

 

[RGM79]

Now what?

Replacement parts are a bitch. If you read up on the bug, the issue is that the slower SATA 3Gbps ports are defective. Your motherboard should still have the faster SATA 6Gbps ports that work just fine. Plug the SSD and hard drive into those ports and don't use the other SATA ports. I don't know what your motherboard looks like and it's actually quite hard to search up, if you want to provide a picture of where the SATA ports are, maybe I can identify which ones you should use.

You could get a new motherboard if you don't have enough SATA ports to plug in everything you need to use. Here's a PCPartPicker list of what's available.. Slim pickings.

Is your PC still under warranty? I doubt it is, but I suppose you could try contacting Dell and asking for service for a faulty product. I don't think they'll service it for you for free, that offer is long gone.

 

[DeathByBacklog]

Replacement parts are a bitch. If you read up on the bug, the issue is that the slower SATA 3Gbps ports are defective. Your motherboard should still have the faster SATA 6Gbps ports that work just fine. Plug the SSD and hard drive into those ports and don't use the other SATA ports. I don't know what your motherboard looks like and it's actually quite hard to search up, if you want to provide a picture of where the SATA ports are, maybe I can identify which ones you should use.

You could get a new motherboard if you don't have enough SATA ports to plug in everything you need to use. Here's a PCPartPicker list of what's available.. Slim pickings.

Is your PC still under warranty? I doubt it is, but I suppose you could try contacting Dell and asking for service for a faulty product. I don't think they'll service it for you for free, that offer is long gone.

Well...I called Dell. They're playing stupid. Claiming anyone can write a blog post (that error is ALL over the web on prominent tech websites) and that any issues would have been fixed before my system was produced and that I have had no issues with my comp for 3 years so it couldn't possibly be the problem. And that it's a software issue. And...and...and. Spoke to the tech, spoke to the tech manager. Finally settled for the number of customer care. And get this...THEY DON'T HAVE PARTS!!! Which explains why there are XPS 8500 motherboards (brand new) on sale on ebay. Wonder why they got rid of them /sarcasm.

Here's the schematic from the manual...

Current configuration has the

SATA drive plugged in #20 (SATA 3.0 (6 Gb/s) drive connector (SATA 0)

Bluray drive plugged in #16 SATA 2.0 (3 Gb/s) drive connector (SATA 1)

 

[REMAINSILLY]

I have a question about my CPU/GPU combo.

I have an i3-4170 and a GTX 970. Pretty much all games I play I can play on high at 60 FPS. But I just got the Division and even on Medium-Low I get MASSIVE FPS loss. Go from 60 to a stuttering 55-47. Is it the game's optimization, or is it the CPU? I have a friend in IT that says the i3 is good enough for gaming, but do I really need to go for an i5 now?

At 30 FPS it's smooth and never any frame drops, even in high. If I kept it at 30 would I be at a HUGE disadvantage when playing PVP?