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

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Jag

Member
Stupid question, but all my gear is on the way and now I'm nervous I will screw up the build. I built a basic PC a few years ago and I've rebuilt my existing Dell over the years, but this new Skylake system is more advanced.

Any guides or advice for building? I want to make sure I get all the wiring correct, etc.
 

Irobot82

Member
Stupid question, but all my gear is on the way and now I'm nervous I will screw up the build. I built a basic PC a few years ago and I've rebuilt my existing Dell over the years, but this new Skylake system is more advanced.

Any guides or advice for building? I want to make sure I get all the wiring correct, etc.

Right in the OP

Video
 
Ok I'm thinking of adding a second GTX970 to my system for SLI

Unless it is much less expensive for you to add the second 970, you'd likely be better off selling you current card and stepping up to a 980ti.

What specifically are you hoping to improve performance wise with the second card?
 

JimPanzer

Member
Unless it is much less expensive for you to add the second 970, you'd likely be better off selling you current card and stepping up to a 980ti.

What specifically are you hoping to improve performance wise with the second card?

I'm pretty set on keeping the 970. I just want more fps for gaming downsampled to 1080p.
 
Unless it is much less expensive for you to add the second 970, you'd likely be better off selling you current card and stepping up to a 980ti.

What specifically are you hoping to improve performance wise with the second card?

I wouldn't recommend shelling out a considerable amount for a 980 Ti knowing that it may struggle in DX12 games because of asynchronous compute.

Better to save a hell of a lot of money and get a 970 to last until the next gen or cards later next year.
 
Man, with all this Oxide drama and dx12 stuff, especially with it pertaining to deus ex (which I'm really looking forward too), I'm almost afraid to do my upcoming 980ti build in a week or two.

Maybe I'll go with a 970 for now and just sell that and upgrade to Pascal. I don't wanna go to team red again because I really want Gsync, but man after skylake and now this and upcoming pascal, so much uncertainty in this new build when I was hoping for just a slam dunk fresh new computer.
 
Man, with all this Oxide drama and dx12 stuff, especially with it pertaining to deus ex (which I'm really looking forward too), I'm almost afraid to do my upcoming 980ti build in a week or two.

Maybe I'll go with a 970 for now and just sell that and upgrade to Pascal. I don't wanna go to team red again because I really want Gsync, but man after skylake and now this and upcoming pascal, so much uncertainty in this new build when I was hoping for just a slam dunk fresh new computer.

Well all I know is that if I was to spend $650 on a GPU, I'd want to make sure it could handle DX12 titles well in the near future. That's a hell of a lot of money.

Still a good card though obviously.
 
I'm pretty set on keeping the 970. I just want more fps for gaming downsampled to 1080p.

The main reason I ask is, SLI to push higher resolutions is one of the applications where that 3.5gb vs. 4gb of vram becomes significant. If the resolutions you're downsampling from cause you to go over 3.5gb of vram use, the benefit you'll see from SLI can be substantially reduced.

Of course, there's all the dx12 scuttlebutt as well. Its worth taking a look at it and deciding if you want to pump more money into the 900 series at current price points or not.
 

RGM79

Member
I need to buy a new computer for work. Almost definitely going to buy a dell optiplex so our it department will support it.

Can anyone give some examples of what type of uses might warrant purchasing an i7 over an i5? Are things like photoshop that processor demanding?

You don't necessarily need an i7 processor, an i5 will do much the same except perhaps slower. You can see some office and real world benchmark results including photoshop at these links:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7963/...iew-core-i7-4790-i5-4690-and-i3-4360-tested/3
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1198?vs=1199
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/intel-haswell-refresh_5.html#sect0

Brazil, and I can get the 600W for about $20 more so... Doing this, it's all well and good? Can I pull the trigger?

How much are you paying for these Corsair power supplies?

Ok I'm thinking of adding a second GTX970 to my system for SLI

I'm currently running this:

MoBo: Asus P8-Z77-V-LK
CPU: i5 3570k@4.4k ghz (with an CM 212 Evo cooler)
GPU: MSI GTX 970 4G Gaming (+140 core,+450 memory, no voltage OCed)
A/C: Sharkoon WPM600 (600w)
Case: Fractal Design R5

I'm currently looking at a second MSI GTX970.

Now for my questions:

1. Is there enough space for a second GPU on my MoBo? Besides my GPU there's nothing extra installed.
2. Any recommendations for a new A/C? Think the old one won't be sufficient.
3. Should I invest in an additional cooler? I'm currently running only the CM212 Evo, my GPU cooler and the cooler which comes with the R5-Case at the back.
My current temps after long gaming sessions are low 70°C for the GPU and around 55°C for the CPU.

No one seems to have answered your questions, so I'll tend to that:
  1. Yes, there is.
  2. You'll want a 750 watt power supply or so for twin GTX 970. What's your budget and where are you located?
  3. Your temperatures sound fine. Keep in mind that if you do go SLI, then your graphics cards will run a bit hotter, being next to each other and warm air rising from one card to the other.
 

zebwinz

Member
Are old high end CPUs in demand? I've got an i7-870 in my current machine that has kicked ass for many years - unfortunately modern motherboards for that chipset (LGA 1156) are hard to find/expensive so I'm just going to build a new PC from scratch. Wondering if I should sell the parts of my old PC or just turn it in to a media box.
 

kennah

Member
Are old high end CPUs in demand? I've got an i7-870 in my current machine that has kicked ass for many years - unfortunately modern motherboards for that chipset (LGA 1156) are hard to find/expensive so I'm just going to build a new PC from scratch. Wondering if I should sell the parts of my old PC or just turn it in to a media box.
That cpu goes for between 50 and 70 these days. The socket 1155 cpus still go for significantly more. (sigh. I want to upgrade my i3)
 

zebwinz

Member
That cpu goes for between 50 and 70 these days. The socket 1155 cpus still go for significantly more. (sigh. I want to upgrade my i3)

Thanks, I bought top of the line at the time and it lasted me almost 7 years so it was worth it. I'll post my parts on the Buy/Sell forum once I've finished my Skylake build :)
 

kennah

Member
Thanks, I bought top of the line at the time and it lasted me almost 7 years so it was worth it. I'll post my parts on the Buy/Sell forum once I've finished my Skylake build :)
Yeah. I'm almost done a 5930k build that has to last me at least 5 years.
 
Well all I know is that if I was to spend $650 on a GPU, I'd want to make sure it could handle DX12 titles well in the near future. That's a hell of a lot of money.

Still a good card though obviously.

Exactly what I'm thinking as well. Now its just to decide whether I want to get a 970 and hope nvidia gets their act together next year with Pascal and I'll still get GSync, or go hard the other direction with Freesync and a FuryX/390X or something of the like. I'd really love to just hold off but my computer is now too old to even play the games I want to play (Witcher 3, MGS5, etc). That and the whole "5820 is better than the 6700" is also bumming me out because I feel if I go with a 5820, I'd have to upgrade that mobo as well come 2 years if we get a nice big CPU bump vs. 6600/6700 having the latest chipset.

Seems I have some planning to do. Thankfully my build is still a week or two away.
 

Altarus

Neo Member
Hello GAF!

I will need a new PC soon as my old one (8 years old this year) is dying.

So I start making a brand new tower, and I need some help / advice for some parts.

[...]

Here my last Part List (Live in France, so I take Germany for the prices. I will buy each part at the lowest price and mount it my self)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (€377.63 @ Mindfactory)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler (€64.95)
Motherboard: Asus Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (€151.76 @ Mindfactory)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (€64.83 @ Mindfactory) x2
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased)
Case: NZXT Phantom (Black/Orange) ATX Full Tower Case (€143.44 @ Mindfactory)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (€148.94)
Sound Card: Creative Labs SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card (Purchased)
Case Fan: NZXT FZ-200mm LED 103.0 CFM 200mm Fan (€21.54 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case Fan: NZXT FZ-200mm LED 103.0 CFM 200mm Fan (€21.54 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 FLX 68.0 CFM 140mm Fan (€21.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
GPU: iChill Geforce GTX 980Ti Black (€779.95)

Total: €1861.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-01 06:21 CEST+0200

So, if you can optimize this, I will love you! (Mainly, the Motherboard, the PSU, the RAM, but I take advice for everything)
Just some things:
About the video card, I really want the iChill Gef​orce GTX 9​80Ti Black. (For the base O/C and the cooling) (I still take advice)
For the motherboard: 6+ USB is better
For the case: You can suggest, but the NZXT... it was love at first sight!

Thanks

No one?
 

- Buy a packaged 2x8GB set, guaranteed to work together instead of getting two single sticks
- I would ditch all those extra fans, that's 200 euros on case + fans.
- Is there a seasonic PSU available? Or EVGA supernova G2?

Other people will have better input, just some food for thought.
 

Altarus

Neo Member
- Buy a packaged 2x8GB set, guaranteed to work together instead of getting two single sticks
- I would ditch all those extra fans, that's 200 euros on case + fans.
- Is there a seasonic PSU available? Or EVGA supernova G2?

Other people will have better input, just some food for thought.

Thanks for the reply.

-I got some bad exp. with RAM before, I prefer take it not package. If one fail, I can keep the other until the return to the manufacturer.
-Ok for the fans, I will buy them after, if I got temp issues.
-eVGA PSU are (very) hard to find in france actualy. For Seasonic, I can got Seasonic X-750 (SS-750KM3) (170€) or Seasonic P-760 (153€) for the same power. So you think I need to change for the P-760 for the same price?
 

JimPanzer

Member
No one seems to have answered your questions, so I'll tend to that:
  1. Yes, there is.
  2. You'll want a 750 watt power supply or so for twin GTX 970. What's your budget and where are you located?
  3. Your temperatures sound fine. Keep in mind that if you do go SLI, then your graphics cards will run a bit hotter, being next to each other and warm air rising from one card to the other.

thanks!
I'm located in Germany and besides the second GPU I'm planning ca. 100€ for the power supply. Is that enough to get a good one with that voltage?
 
Two weeks until I order my parts.

TOTAL-RECALL-Two-Weeks-600x279.jpg
 

tarheel91

Member
Just a PSA: For those looking at X99 motherboards, MSI has been atrocious. First motherboard failed within a week. Replacement failed after 9 months. Second replacement was DoA. If this next one is bad, I'm asking for a refund (lemon law) and going elsewhere.

I'm thinking of heading over to Asus; is there any legitimacy to their OC Socket claims?
 
Just a PSA: For those looking at X99 motherboards, MSI has been atrocious. First motherboard failed within a week. Replacement failed after 9 months. Second replacement was DoA. If this next one is bad, I'm asking for a refund (lemon law) and going elsewhere.

I'm thinking of heading over to Asus; is there any legitimacy to their OC Socket claims?
I just build a new pc and I think my msi motherboard just died. Should have listened my cousin recommending Asus
 
Needs more info:

Do the fans turn on?
Are there any motherboard beeps? (if yes check your motherboard manual for error codes)

Does it post? Can you get into your bios?


Try removing your hard drive, all but one ram stick and your gpu (if you have an integrated gpu on your cpu) and see if it posts.


You troubleshoot by elimination until you find the part that is borked.

If you can't get it to post at all then try a different power supply, if it still doesn't then I guess it's probably the motherboard.
No fans, no beeps, I think it's the motherboard.. Thanks for the info I will try it out!
 

Shawn128

Member
Hey could I ask you guys a few questions re: water cooling? I've spent all my time building my PC, now that I have it, I want to start focusing on my first water cooled setup. I've been looking a lot at EKWB since I like the way their parts look, but I'm still trying to figure things out.

How do I know what size radiator to get? I think I want to get a 360x120mm, but I'm not sure how thick I should get it?

Should I get one or two radiators (top and front of case)? I have a i7 6700k and 980ti that I want to both be watercooled.

How big a reservoir should I get? Should I get it with a pump built in or separate?

What determines the thickness of my tubing? Is it dictated by the size of my fittings on the radiator/block/reservoir? I think I want to use soft tubing since I'm starting out.

Is there anything else I should get beside what I've mentioned above? Any other companies I should be looking at?

Sorry for so many questions, but I can't find anything that just spell it out easily for me! Thanks for your help!
 

kennah

Member
Hey could I ask you guys a few questions re: water cooling? I've spent all my time building my PC, now that I have it, I want to start focusing on my first water cooled setup. I've been looking a lot at EKWB since I like the way their parts look, but I'm still trying to figure things out.

How do I know what size radiator to get? I think I want to get a 360x120mm, but I'm not sure how thick I should get it?

Should I get one or two radiators (top and front of case)? I have a i7 6700k and 980ti that I want to both be watercooled.

How big a reservoir should I get? Should I get it with a pump built in or separate?

What determines the thickness of my tubing? Is it dictated by the size of my fittings on the radiator/block/reservoir? I think I want to use soft tubing since I'm starting out.

Is there anything else I should get beside what I've mentioned above? Any other companies I should be looking at?

Sorry for so many questions, but I can't find anything that just spell it out easily for me! Thanks for your help!
The first thing you need to decide is what case. That will impact everything else.
 

Shawn128

Member
The first thing you need to decide is what case. That will impact everything else.

Sorry, I wrote so much in my first post, I didn't say what kind of case I had already.

I planned ahead for this build and got a Fractal Design S, so I think I have plenty of space for all sorts of water cooling fun.
 
Do you get an temp drop with the side panel off? It still seems a little high to me for idle at those ambient temps.

I tried this but results where the same, I played Crysis 3 for a while and got a maximum of 90° C with an average of 85° C. I'm starting to believe that this isn't an actual problem, as I have tried everything that I had been told and there's still no improvement. My CPU is about 2 years old so I seriously doubt the problem lies in there, what do you guys think?

Edit: Also, it's noteworthy to say that after finish playing temperature went down really fast, like, in a couple of minutes it came back to being at 40-50° degrees
 

knitoe

Member
I tried this but results where the same, I played Crysis 3 for a while and got a maximum of 90° C with an average of 85° C. I'm starting to believe that this isn't an actual problem, as I have tried everything that I had been told and there's still no improvement. My CPU is about 2 years old so I seriously doubt the problem lies in there, what do you guys think?

Edit: Also, it's noteworthy to say that after finish playing temperature went down really fast, like, in a couple of minutes it came back to being at 40-50° degrees
Are you using the stock cooler? If yes, that's not unusual. They are terrible for cooling and noise. If you want lower temps and less noise, think about getting a aftermarket cooler.

As for your computer running slow, when it happens, go into task manager and see if there are any process with excessive usage, cpu, memory and/or disk. Also, run disk check on your HDD.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Okay so if I buy a 2.5" SSD I can just plug it into a SATA port, stick it in the case and I'm good to go?

(Aside from wiping the old drive and doing a new install on the SSD and stuff)
 

RGM79

Member
Okay so if I buy a 2.5" SSD I can just plug it into a SATA port, stick it in the case and I'm good to go?

(Aside from wiping the old drive and doing a new install on the SSD and stuff)

Pretty much. Depending on what case you have, it might have mounts for 2.5" drives. Even if it doesn't, it's still OK. SSDs have no moving parts and it is fine to mount it anywhere in the case, even taped down is OK since they're light. As long as they aren't just hanging off the SATA cable and will possibly come loose, it's fine.

Around $75 for the 500W. Cheaper than importing because of the shipping.

I was thinking of recommending a different model or even a different brand. Corsair CX is ok but merely average quality. I don't know what shops you're looking at, so I'll just recommend you some brands instead. Let me repeat something I said a while ago about power supply brands:
Super Flower, Seasonic, and XFX are the brands that I can say offer excellent models all across their product lines. EVGA, Corsair, Antec, Cooler Master, Fractal, Rosewill, and Silverstone offer poor to excellent models depending on which model you look at. If you are looking for reviews, then RealHardTechX is a decent resource. Look at the top of the page for listings by brand, then you can search for specific models by name or model number. That link leads to the XFX page, you can see how just about all of their power supplies are highly rated (they are actually all manufactured by Seasonic).​

thanks!
I'm located in Germany and besides the second GPU I'm planning ca. 100€ for the power supply. Is that enough to get a good one with that voltage?

Definitely. Let me list off some decent examples from this source, in no particular order:

http://geizhals.de/xfx-ts-gold-series-750w-atx-2-31-p1-750g-ts3x-a1076864.html?hloc=at&hloc=de
http://geizhals.de/cooler-master-g750m-750w-atx-2-31-rs-750-amaab1-a1010367.html?hloc=at&hloc=de
http://geizhals.de/evga-supernova-b2-750-750w-atx-2-3-110-b2-0750-vr-a1139842.html?hloc=at&hloc=de
http://geizhals.de/sea-sonic-m12ii-...w-atx-ss-750am2-a1150176.html?hloc=at&hloc=de
http://geizhals.de/super-flower-gol...-sf-750p14xe-hx-a1055525.html?hloc=at&hloc=de


Compared to building your own? Not bad. It's under market value if I were to consider a custom build with more or less the same parts and functionality.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
Total: $947.16
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-02 01:29 EDT-0400

However, for $900 I would recommend a different build instead that would be more capable when it comes to gaming performance.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($94.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($42.30 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($75.60 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.00 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card ($310.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($41.40 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($46.80 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $901.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-02 01:33 EDT-0400

It does lack wifi and has less RAM, but 8GB is enough for the majority of users and you always have the option to add more in the future. The i5 is nearly on par with the i7 when it comes to most if not nearly all games. In any case, the GTX 970 alone makes this build much more powerful for game performance.

Edit: Forgot to include OS in the second parts list. It's about $80 or so. If you don't mind taking a risk, there is also the option of buying a Windows license off reddit for $15 or so.

There's a huge waitlist for 6700k processors in my city, so when my turn finally comes (should be in late September if all goes well) I'm ordering http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/RrxNhM. I'm very excited, I haven't built a computer in years.

Where in Canada are you? Directcanada still hasn't shipped my 16GB of Ripjaws V 3000MHz RAM yet, and I ordered it over two weeks ago..

So guys this is the final build my cousin wants to get

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

Case is his choice and he really wants to get that one. His budget was CAD $1050 including monitor which he has already bought. Should I go ahead and place an order?

Your link doesn't work. You can't just copy and paste the address bar's URL, you need to use one of the options from this menu bar:
 

Fmal

Banned
I live in Edmonton. There's a Memory Express right near me, and they price match to other Canadian stores, so I typically buy as much from there as I can just so I don't have to fuck around with shipping etc.
 

kennah

Member
I live in Edmonton. There's a Memory Express right near me, and they price match to other Canadian stores, so I typically buy as much from there as I can just so I don't have to fuck around with shipping etc.
Love memory Express. I wish the fucking Winnipeg location would get their online clearance section figured out.

Edit. After freaking out earlier, I think I figured out how to jam it in. Just need to buy three fittings.

 

RGM79

Member
I live in Edmonton. There's a Memory Express right near me, and they price match to other Canadian stores, so I typically buy as much from there as I can just so I don't have to fuck around with shipping etc.
Love memory Express. I wish the fucking Winnipeg location would get their online clearance section figured out.
They're a great alternative to NCIX. I loved their old pricematching policy where they used to take off 25% of the difference and not just 10%.
 
Hey RGM79, got my PSU yesterday.
Instead of S12II 620W, they gave me M12II 620W because they don't stock the S series anymore. WHO HO! \o/ Fully modular goodness for the price of an S series. *happy dance*
 

Zemlocke

Neo Member
Hey folks, I'm about to upgrade my video card and the one I'm looking at doesn't mention being hdcp compliant on the specs page. Other cards do have it listed as a feature. Are all cards with an hdmi port hdcp compliant now days? Thanks for the help.
 

LilJoka

Member
Hey folks, I'm about to upgrade my video card and the one I'm looking at doesn't mention being hdcp compliant on the specs page. Other cards do have it listed as a feature. Are all cards with an hdmi port hdcp compliant now days? Thanks for the help.

I've not seen any card not compliant, which one are you looking at?
 
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