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[CreepingFear]

Repost to see if anyone else missed this question:

Question for you guys who have purchased a Seasonic Power Supply: Did the box come with shrink wrap on it? The one I purchased from Newegg didn't. I went to youtube to search for unboxing videos and I didn't see shrink wrap on them, but maybe the people took them off first. Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

 

[LilJoka]

Repost to see if anyone else missed this question:

Question for you guys who have purchased a Seasonic Power Supply: Did the box come with shrink wrap on it? The one I purchased from Newegg didn't. I went to youtube to search for unboxing videos and I didn't see shrink wrap on them, but maybe the people took them off first. Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

Hm usually the PSU box comes sealed in that plastic shrink wrap in my experience. I wouldn't worry though.

 

[Petite Feet]

I'm looking into building a new pc for gaming/3d work

Area: Westchester, NY
Budget: $1000-1200
Main Use: Gaming (I play most new releases but mainly my time is spent on FFXIV) and 3D Animation/Rendering
Monitor resolution: 1080p
Programs: Maya/Blender, Adobe suite
Overclocking: Yes

I also live near a microcenter if that helps.

 

[NobleXenon]

So, I'm starting my long year-ish process of building a new Smokey-level computer. I won't be buying the computer parts for quite some time, but I do want to get the cases, coolers, power supply, etc out of the way.

Are there any cases that:

A) Doesn't look like it came from outer-space that look utterly ridiculous.

B) Has no slots for optical drives; I haven't used optical media in my current computer in over three years; optical media is ancient and I don't want them in my new computer. If they went away in favor of a second or third fan, that would be great.

C) Does away with hard drive bays, I want my computer to have M.2. If it has SSD bays, then that's fine; I'll use my current RAID 0 SSD setup as buffer/overflow/temp dump in it then.

D) Has to be compatible with liquid cooling, for both the CPU and GPU(s).

Thanks.

 

[Kudo]

Repost to see if anyone else missed this question:

Question for you guys who have purchased a Seasonic Power Supply: Did the box come with shrink wrap on it? The one I purchased from Newegg didn't. I went to youtube to search for unboxing videos and I didn't see shrink wrap on them, but maybe the people took them off first. Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

Don't think any of my hardware came with shrink wrap, only seals on some of them to see if it was opened or not.

Realisticall when will the pascal cards be out? Is it worth it to even get a 680ti at this point?

Do you mean 980Ti? Yes, it's very good card for the price tag. I'd say get it if you need card now - I don't think the Pascal will blow it away, definitely better but worth the wait? Depends, 980Ti should last you long time with everything maxed.
Pascal should come in first quarter of 2016, but I wouldn't be surprised if it came little later than that.

 

[CreepingFear]

Hm usually the PSU box comes sealed in that plastic shrink wrap in my experience. I wouldn't worry though.

Don't think any of my hardware came with shrink wrap, only seals on some of them to see if it was opened or not.

I remember my Corsair AX 850 coming shrink wrapped. I did open the box and the product looks like it's in good condition if it was used by someone else. I just don't like the idea of getting something that was used by someone else, especially when I payed premium dollar for a brand new Season Platinum PSU.

 

[Kudo]

I remember my Corsair AX 850 coming shrink wrapped. I did open the box and the product looks like it's in good condition if it was used by someone else. I just don't like the idea of getting something that was used by someone else, especially when I payed premium dollar for a brand new Season Platinum PSU.

I can understand that, had the same exact feeling when I got my order. Maybe someone who has got computer recently can tell if their order came shrink wrapped or not, my motherboard, CPU and PSU (Seasonic 660W Platinum, maybe other PSUs come with shrink wrap?) definitely weren't and I bought them new too.
CPU had seal, motherboard and PSU was not even sealed.

 

[Bebpo]

So I was posting in the MGSV thread, but since 3 days ago when I updated my Nvidia drivers, my computer has been shutting down after 1-2 hours of playing MGSV and the interesting things are:

-After it powers down hitting power, unplugging and replugging the power cords, etc... does nothing. It won't boot at all

-Then after about 10 mins it will automatically restart itself


I just built this computer last October using this thread. Did like one of the top builds with two 980 SLIs. Been running it hard at 4k/60fps for dozens of hours with GTAV and other games no problem. Even the first few days of MGSV on Monday night/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday were no problem. Then I updated my Nvidia drivers on Friday and started having this problem every day, every session.

My GPUs are running at like 80C and 70C when maxed, motherboard/cpu is running around 70C maxed. I mean it smells kind of burning-ish and it's hot but those should not be overheating temps. No graphical problems.

The power supply is a Coolermaster 750W. In the MGSV thread it was suggested that it's probably the power supply being faulty. Does that seem right? Since I'm in the middle of playing MGSV and don't want to go through the whole RMA thing and not have a PC, I'll just buy another one and a bigger, better one, but I don't really want to spend $150 unless it's very likely the main factor.

Any chance it could be not the power supply but grounding issues with the electricity in the room? I know I had a grounding issue once with my receiver where it shut down and I couldn't get it back on until I unplugged and replugged the power cable back in. But to constantly be doing this for the last 3 days in MGSV after playing 1-2 hour in graphically intensive spots? Yeah it does seem like the power supply. That's probably what the burning smell is too? Although I always figured when running at 80C for a while you always get a little burning smell from dust and stuff, but it's not like I have a habit of smelling my PC so I don't remember.

Also I wonder why this only started after updating the Nvidia drivers? Could it be that there was some change that caused the cards to run a little harder and that at extended sessions is causing the power supply to shock out? I do notice that since I updated the drivers and this started happening, my entire system going by speedfan is running at about 10C higher in every reading than it used to. My GPUs used to idle at 32C, now they're idling at like 40C and motherboard temp 2 reading is around 42C idle too and used to be around 28C-32C as well. I opened up the computer and there's not much dust, all the fans are running, and the heatsink still seems good. My house is about 10 degrees hotter since it's mid summer, so maybe that would explain it.

Thoughts? Should I order a new PSU and switch it out?

 

[w0s]

Do you mean 980Ti? Yes, it's very good card for the price tag. I'd say get it if you need card now - I don't think the Pascal will blow it away, definitely better but worth the wait? Depends, 980Ti should last you long time with everything maxed.
Pascal should come in first quarter of 2016, but I wouldn't be surprised if it came little later than that.

Yea that is what I meant. I have t had a PC in awhile but was building a new one and just wonder if 5 months from now for the same price I could have something 10x better.

 

[Cute Dragon Here]

It appears that the new CPU cooler is making rattling noises while nobody is in control during the Windows boot process. Hmm... Should I remove the CPU cooler and reinstall it? It doesn't make any odd noises within the motherboard UEFI settings or in Windows.

 

[Kudo]

Yea that is what I meant. I have t had a PC in awhile but was building a new one and just wonder if 5 months from now for the same price I could have something 10x better.

At best it probably could be 2x better, performance jumps in that category usually aren't that big if you jump lets say from 780Ti to 980Ti I think it's around 30-40% faster in games, usually providing 20 more FPS (At least in these benchmarks I'm looking at, on 2560x1440 and all maxed).
I don't think Pascal have any chances of releasing in 5 months, 8 months maybe. If you're not in hurry you can wait but remember that GPUs also have fairly good resale value, if you get GTX 980TI now you can sell it when Pascal comes get some back and buy Pascal if you think it's worth the loss.

 

[Oemenia]

Either of those will be fine.

Sorry to drag this but is there anything else I should consider if I went for a QX6700 or QX9650 such as power requirements or RAM considerations?

 

[kennah]

Sorry to drag this but is there anything else I should consider if I went for a QX6700 or QX9650 such as power requirements or RAM considerations?

It seriously doesn't matter. Just get what your motherboard will be able to use.

 

[hockeypuck]

Repost to see if anyone else missed this question:

Question for you guys who have purchased a Seasonic Power Supply: Did the box come with shrink wrap on it? The one I purchased from Newegg didn't. I went to youtube to search for unboxing videos and I didn't see shrink wrap on them, but maybe the people took them off first. Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

I got my Seasonic PSU and MSI Twin Frozr GPU from Newegg last week. Seasonic's box was not shrink wrapped. MSI's box was shrink wrapped. I just figured that Seasonic was thinking, "we're giving you a sweet PSU in a fuckin' felt bag. No shrink wrap" and left it at that.

 

[CreepingFear]

I got my Seasonic PSU and MSI Twin Frozr GPU from Newegg last week. Seasonic's box was not shrink wrapped. MSI's box was shrink wrapped. I just figured that Seasonic was thinking, "we're giving you a sweet PSU in a fuckin' felt bag. No shrink wrap" and left it at that.

If going by ebay pictures and unboxing videos on youtube, the Seasonic PSU I bought doesn't come shrink wrapped. I'm just probably being paranoid. I guess it comes with like a 7 year warranty or something.

PSU is the least of my worries. 6700k is still not in stock and 3200+ ram all seems to be out of stock in the 2x8GB and 4*8GB capacities that I'm looking for.

 

[Oemenia]

It seriously doesn't matter. Just get what your motherboard will be able to use.

After doing some more research I've settled on a Q9550. Thanks for the advice!

 

[kennah]

After doing some more research I've settled on a Q9550. Thanks for the advice!

Been there man. Good luck! I hope you're able to find ram.

 

[Oemenia]

Been there man. Good luck! I hope you're able to find ram.

DDR2 RAM is still pricey so I'll have to stick with 4gb for now. Either way DX12 will be a big life-saver for those of us on weaker CPUs so I might get to squeeze quite a bit of life from it.

 

[knitoe]

So I was posting in the MGSV thread, but since 3 days ago when I updated my Nvidia drivers, my computer has been shutting down after 1-2 hours of playing MGSV and the interesting things are:

-After it powers down hitting power, unplugging and replugging the power cords, etc... does nothing. It won't boot at all

-Then after about 10 mins it will automatically restart itself


I just built this computer last October using this thread. Did like one of the top builds with two 980 SLIs. Been running it hard at 4k/60fps for dozens of hours with GTAV and other games no problem. Even the first few days of MGSV on Monday night/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday were no problem. Then I updated my Nvidia drivers on Friday and started having this problem every day, every session.

My GPUs are running at like 80C and 70C when maxed, motherboard/cpu is running around 70C maxed. I mean it smells kind of burning-ish and it's hot but those should not be overheating temps. No graphical problems.

The power supply is a Coolermaster 750W. In the MGSV thread it was suggested that it's probably the power supply being faulty. Does that seem right? Since I'm in the middle of playing MGSV and don't want to go through the whole RMA thing and not have a PC, I'll just buy another one and a bigger, better one, but I don't really want to spend $150 unless it's very likely the main factor.

Any chance it could be not the power supply but grounding issues with the electricity in the room? I know I had a grounding issue once with my receiver where it shut down and I couldn't get it back on until I unplugged and replugged the power cable back in. But to constantly be doing this for the last 3 days in MGSV after playing 1-2 hour in graphically intensive spots? Yeah it does seem like the power supply. That's probably what the burning smell is too? Although I always figured when running at 80C for a while you always get a little burning smell from dust and stuff, but it's not like I have a habit of smelling my PC so I don't remember.

Also I wonder why this only started after updating the Nvidia drivers? Could it be that there was some change that caused the cards to run a little harder and that at extended sessions is causing the power supply to shock out? I do notice that since I updated the drivers and this started happening, my entire system going by speedfan is running at about 10C higher in every reading than it used to. My GPUs used to idle at 32C, now they're idling at like 40C and motherboard temp 2 reading is around 42C idle too and used to be around 28C-32C as well. I opened up the computer and there's not much dust, all the fans are running, and the heatsink still seems good. My house is about 10 degrees hotter since it's mid summer, so maybe that would explain it.

Thoughts? Should I order a new PSU and switch it out?

Try the newer developer drivers 355.84.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=402122

And, with SLI 980ti, run at least a 850W PSU. Overclocking them and cpu is cutting it close on a 750W PSU. You do know a PSU degrades overtime. The more you constantly push them hard the faster they will. Personally, I would go 1000W or more since PSU are most efficient and quiet at 50-60% full load.

 

[JimPanzer]

Uhm, guys, what is Auxiliary, AUXTIN2 and AUXTIN3 in HW Monitor? I'm getting incredible strange temperature readings for those in HWinfo. Auxilary is around 87°C, AUXTIN2 at 92°C and AUXTIN3 at 2°C. What is going on?

full specs are

Asus P8-Z77-V-LK
i5 3570k@4.4k (EVO212 CPU cooler)
2x MSI GTX 970
2x 8GB DDR3 1600
250GB SSD
Cooler Master G750M Power adapter
R5 Define Case with one inhale on front and one exhale on the back

anyone?

 

[SleazyC]

anyone?

They are just auxillary sensors on the motherboard that can be ignored 99.9% of the time. Since different motherboard manufacturers will use different kinds of auxillary sensors it can usually lead to some of the diagnostics software getting some crazy readings from them.

So, I'm starting my long year-ish process of building a new Smokey-level computer. I won't be buying the computer parts for quite some time, but I do want to get the cases, coolers, power supply, etc out of the way.

Are there any cases that:

A) Doesn't look like it came from outer-space that look utterly ridiculous.

B) Has no slots for optical drives; I haven't used optical media in my current computer in over three years; optical media is ancient and I don't want them in my new computer. If they went away in favor of a second or third fan, that would be great.

C) Does away with hard drive bays, I want my computer to have M.2. If it has SSD bays, then that's fine; I'll use my current RAID 0 SSD setup as buffer/overflow/temp dump in it then.

D) Has to be compatible with liquid cooling, for both the CPU and GPU(s).

Thanks.

Most modern (made in the last 5-10 years) should have removable hard drive cages so you can always just remove those if you aren't going to be using any 3.5 HDD drives. Also most cases now a days will cover their 5 1/2 bays with removable panels so if you don't install a DVD/CD you can just keep the panel on.

What kind of price point are you working with?

 

[Mordeccai]

PC GAF, I am having some particularly frustrating issues after installing my 980ti. None of these symptoms occured on my 970 a few weeks prior, nor did they occur when I was running on integrated graphics for 2 weeks waiting for my new card.

First, DSR is broken. Any time I attempt to run a game (any game) at a higher res than 1080p, it will black screen and I have to end the process through task manager.

Second, on exiting to desktop to attempt to close the game, due to said black screen, Windows 8 is all fucked. I get the default color screen that shows behind the tiles, but nothing else until I alt tab into Desktop. The bottom task bar is missing at this point, and alt tabbing back into games does not work.

I have been able to play Batman Arkham Knight fine at 1080 for six hours so far with no issues, which makes me even more confused as to why Dota 2 will hard lock literally any time I take an action @ 1080. I can que a match, hard lock. End task, boot into dota 2, rejoin match, pick a hero, hard lock. Once I'm finally in game after multiple restarts, typing in chat, opening the shop, attacking a hero, all hard lock the program.

Most recently, I played a few hours of Life is Strange at 1080p and when closing the game, the resolution is all fucked on my monitor and again I am presented with the default color screen behind Windows 8 tiles and I have to alt tab to get into Desktop.

What the hell is this? Driver issues? Should I re-seat the card? It is extremely frustrating.

 

[Bebpo]

Try the newer developer drivers 355.84.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=402122

And, with SLI 980ti, run at least a 850W PSU. Overclocking them and cpu is cutting it close on a 750W PSU. You do know a PSU degrades overtime. The more you constantly push them hard the faster they will. Personally, I would go 1000W or more since PSU are most efficient and quiet at 50-60% full load.

Thanks will try that out. Yeah I'm not overlocking them although they are the EVGA Super Clocked versions. They're also the original 980s, not the 980tis.

But yeah I'm going to go with the 1000W EVGA Supernova G2 and hope that fixes it.

 

[RGM79]

He mentioned wanting a good sound card, nothing on recording interfaces. For games, 60FPS with as good as he can go on this budget.

How does this look?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($26.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.99)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($43.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.00 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0 Video Card ($308.99 @ 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 ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $936.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-07 03:25 EDT-0400

If you can, I recommend going to pick up the $275 bundle for the i5 4690K processor and ASRock Z97 Pro4 motherboard from the Microcenter in St. Louis/Brentwood. That would save you quite a bit compared to buying elsewhere. The cost of that bundle is factored into the parts list.

I don't know much about sound cards, so I tried to leave some room in the budget for him to decide?

I'm looking into building a new pc for gaming/3d work

Area: Westchester, NY
Budget: $1000-1200
Main Use: Gaming (I play most new releases but mainly my time is spent on FFXIV) and 3D Animation/Rendering
Monitor resolution: 1080p
Programs: Maya/Blender, Adobe suite
Overclocking: Yes

I also live near a microcenter if that helps.

My recommendation to you is similar to what the guy had above, but with some changes to better suit your 3D rendering and animation:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($26.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.99)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.00 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0 Video Card ($308.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define S ATX Mid Tower Case ($68.40 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX Core Edition 850W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1089.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-07 03:22 EDT-0400

As mentioned above, Microcenter is offering the processor and motherboard as a locally-available bundle together for $355.

So, I'm starting my long year-ish process of building a new Smokey-level computer. I won't be buying the computer parts for quite some time, but I do want to get the cases, coolers, power supply, etc out of the way. Are there any cases that:

A) Doesn't look like it came from outer-space that look utterly ridiculous.
B) Has no slots for optical drives; I haven't used optical media in my current computer in over three years; optical media is ancient and I don't want them in my new computer. If they went away in favor of a second or third fan, that would be great.
C) Does away with hard drive bays, I want my computer to have M.2. If it has SSD bays, then that's fine; I'll use my current RAID 0 SSD setup as buffer/overflow/temp dump in it then.
D) Has to be compatible with liquid cooling, for both the CPU and GPU(s).

Thanks.

The Fractal Define S sounds like what you want. Clean and subtle design, comes in windowed or non-windowed versions, no optical bays or hard drive cages. There are hidden mounts for 3.5" and 2.5" drives on the side just in case you want them, though. The case interior itself is also wide open and extremely adaptable for water cooling.

 

[Grassy]

PC GAF, I am having some particularly frustrating issues after installing my 980ti. None of these symptoms occured on my 970 a few weeks prior, nor did they occur when I was running on integrated graphics for 2 weeks waiting for my new card.

First, DSR is broken. Any time I attempt to run a game (any game) at a higher res than 1080p, it will black screen and I have to end the process through task manager.

Second, on exiting to desktop to attempt to close the game, due to said black screen, Windows 8 is all fucked. I get the default color screen that shows behind the tiles, but nothing else until I alt tab into Desktop. The bottom task bar is missing at this point, and alt tabbing back into games does not work.

I have been able to play Batman Arkham Knight fine at 1080 for six hours so far with no issues, which makes me even more confused as to why Dota 2 will hard lock literally any time I take an action @ 1080. I can que a match, hard lock. End task, boot into dota 2, rejoin match, pick a hero, hard lock. Once I'm finally in game after multiple restarts, typing in chat, opening the shop, attacking a hero, all hard lock the program.

Most recently, I played a few hours of Life is Strange at 1080p and when closing the game, the resolution is all fucked on my monitor and again I am presented with the default color screen behind Windows 8 tiles and I have to alt tab to get into Desktop.

What the hell is this? Driver issues? Should I re-seat the card? It is extremely frustrating.

Can you list your system specs and which Nvidia drivers you're using? Did you do a clean install of the drivers?

 

[Mordeccai]

Can you list your system specs and which Nvidia drivers you're using? Did you do a clean install of the drivers?

i5 3570K @ 4.0 clock
Biostar TZ77B mobo
8GB of RAM
850 EVO SSD
Antec BP550 plus (on the low end I know, but keeping the 980ti at stock clock for now)
I'm on 355.82 drivers. When I removed the 970, I uninstalled GeForce experience and EVGA precision but didn't do a complete uninstall of the drivers. I suppose a complete refresh of drivers is in order?

I just played an hour of Witcher 3 with no issues either, no screen resolution change or locks. I'll report back in the morning when I do a fresh driver install

 

[XBP]

anyone?

I would ignore that. Seems to be a wrong reading. That software is showing something called 'temp4' on my PC as 101'C, which seems very unrealistic. Use MSI afterburner or Hwmonitor to check your readings, they give a lot more reliable results.

 

[Grassy]

i5 3570K @ 4.0 clock
Biostar TZ77B mobo
8GB of RAM
850 EVO SSD
Antec BP550 plus (on the low end I know, but keeping the 980ti at stock clock for now)
I'm on 355.82 drivers. When I removed the 970, I uninstalled GeForce experience and EVGA precision but didn't do a complete uninstall of the drivers. I suppose a complete refresh of drivers is in order?

I just played an hour of Witcher 3 with no issues either, no screen resolution change or locks. I'll report back in the morning when I do a fresh driver install

Yeah a fresh install should help. I'd also recommend MSI Afterburner instead of EVGA Precision X.

 

[fred]

After building my current PC in 2008 I've decided to build a new one in November this year/May next year (will be doing it in two parts!). I've decided what I'll be getting:

CPU - Intel Core i7 4790K 4GHz Socket 1150 £269.86
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-Z97P-D3 Motherboard £70.90
CPU Cooling - Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator and Fan £57.92
RAM - 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM (Kit of 2) HyperX Fury Black Series £65.86
Optical Drive - Samsung 24X Internal DVD Writer with SATA and M-Disc £11.49
Case - COOLER MASTER CM STORM TROOPER WITH WINDOW - USB3.0 XL ATX CASE £145.77

Total £621.80

GPU - XFX R9 390X BLACK EDITION 8GB GDDR5 £319.98


So I've got a few questions:

1) Would I be right in thinking that the above setup will be able to run either Oculus Rift or HTC Vive when they release..?

2) Is Windows 10 a pain in the arse like previous versions and tied to a PC's hardware..? Years ago you always had to reinstall Windows whenever you changed the motherboard which has always been a MAJOR pain in the arse. I'm planning on using all 4 of my current SATA hard drives with the new system.

3) Have I forgotten anything, it's been YEARS since I built a PC lol

4) Is it all compatible (see number 3 lol)..?

5) Can you think of any improvements without spending that much more money..? I've got a maximum of £675 to spend in November and £675 to spend in May next year.

6) I'm planning on either getting the GPU in November and the rest in May next year or the other way around. Do you think the prices of the components of each of the two parts will come down before then? I.e. would I be better off getting the GPU first in November or the rest of the machine in May or the other way around..?

Sorry for all of the questions, any help is very much appreciated!

Prices are from Ebuyer but will obviously shop around!

 

[j0hnny_385]

Had a weird issue today.

Friend bought a new PC. Nothing fancy.
ASRock H97M Pro4 MBo, i3 CPU, etc.
He wants to buy my old XFX Radeon 7850 2GB Black Edition GPU.
Problem? The computer won't boot with it inside, it just beeps 5 times when turned on and that's it.
All the fans are running normally (case, CPU, GPU), and the PC works fine with another, older PCIE GPU (R HD 4870) or onboard integrated, but specifically reports the "5 beeps" error with my GPU inside. WTF?
ASRock isn't much helpful, they say the 5 beep is:

Question (Q&A-84|286): What's the meaning of AMI UEFI BIOS Beep code?(4/1/2011)

Answerlease refer to below form for the beep code and debug code of AMI UEFI BIOS.
[...]
Condition: Without VGA card
Beeps Code: 5 long beeps
Debug Code: Beeps at”d6”, then show "0d"

Tried flashing the BIOS to the latest release, clearing CMOS, nothing helps.
Works with everything other than the 7850 GPU.
PSU is XFX 550W with correct 2x6 power pins.

Thoughts? Seems like just one of those "sorry, it just doesn't work" situations.
Oh yea, the 7850 GPU works fine in other PCs. :/

 

[GRaider81]

After building my current PC in 2008 I've decided to build a new one in November this year/May next year (will be doing it in two parts!). I've decided what I'll be getting:

CPU - Intel Core i7 4790K 4GHz Socket 1150 £269.86
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-Z97P-D3 Motherboard £70.90
CPU Cooling - Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator and Fan £57.92
RAM - 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM (Kit of 2) HyperX Fury Black Series £65.86
Optical Drive - Samsung 24X Internal DVD Writer with SATA and M-Disc £11.49
Case - COOLER MASTER CM STORM TROOPER WITH WINDOW - USB3.0 XL ATX CASE £145.77

Total £621.80

GPU - XFX R9 390X BLACK EDITION 8GB GDDR5 £319.98


So I've got a few questions:

1) Would I be right in thinking that the above setup will be able to run either Oculus Rift or HTC Vive when they release..?

2) Is Windows 10 a pain in the arse like previous versions and tied to a PC's hardware..? Years ago you always had to reinstall Windows whenever you changed the motherboard which has always been a MAJOR pain in the arse. I'm planning on using all 4 of my current SATA hard drives with the new system.

3) Have I forgotten anything, it's been YEARS since I built a PC lol

4) Is it all compatible (see number 3 lol)..?

5) Can you think of any improvements without spending that much more money..? I've got a maximum of £675 to spend in November and £675 to spend in May next year.

6) I'm planning on either getting the GPU in November and the rest in May next year or the other way around. Do you think the prices of the components of each of the two parts will come down before then? I.e. would I be better off getting the GPU first in November or the rest of the machine in May or the other way around..?

Sorry for all of the questions, any help is very much appreciated!

Prices are from Ebuyer but will obviously shop around!

Someone more informed can help with the tech but id suggest for 6, buy everything all at once when you have the cash.
Personally id hate to buy something in November only for it to be a lot cheaper in May! I know its tempting to buy components as soon as you can so you feel like you have started but there is no real advantage to this imo.

 

[thelurkinghorror]

Hey Pc Gaf, I need a new laptop!

I saw some very good looking Asus but which one is better?
The i7 with 4gb of ram (F555LJ-XX085H) or the i5 with 8gb?

 

[Lord Phol]

So I've had some problem with my PC this weekend, had to remove a harddrive and 8GB of RAM. Not sure if everything is working correct yet but it looked good last night. So now I'm deciding if I need to upgrade back to 16GB. I mainly game and surf the web, but I do enjoy having lots of stuff open at once. Should I upgrade or just stay at 8?

Also someone mentioned more ram = more heat? How much are we talking?

Rest of my specs:

i5-3570 @ 3,4GHz
EVGA SC GTX 980 TI
1TB SATA HDD
600W PSU

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Hey Pc Gaf, I need a new laptop!

I saw some very good looking Asus but which one is better?
The i7 with 4gb of ram (F555LJ-XX085H) or the i5 with 8gb?

There is a gaming laptop thread that probably has more expertise, I don't have the link but it will be searchable.

I wouldn't be buying a computer with 4GB of ram in 2015 unless it was for word docs and media consumption. Old games will be fine but I'd be concerned about newish ones.

i5 vs i7 is irrelevant unless we know the specific models. There are lower and higher power versions and it's not just a linear one is always better than the other. Some may be an older generation too.

 

[Mad Season]

Why is ddr2 memory so expensive?

 

[ruttyboy]

Why is ddr2 memory so expensive?

Because it is manufactured in ever decreasing quantities due to being replaced by DDR3 and now DDR4 for mainstream use.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Why is ddr2 memory so expensive?

For the same reason it's expensive to buy clay tablets baked by the Assyrians. It's not widely used anymore. DDR3 has been in use since '07 and has been mainstream for years.

 

[kennah]

DDR2 RAM is still pricey so I'll have to stick with 4gb for now. Either way DX12 will be a big life-saver for those of us on weaker CPUs so I might get to squeeze quite a bit of life from it.

Umm.. Direct x 12 doesn't work like that. It won't suddenly make slow processors fast, it will just more efficiently use more cores. But it will still be limited by the amount of instructions that your processor is able to do. I don't expect direct x 12 games to run on a Core2 system very well at all, since they will be being designed to work on i5 and i7 cpus

 

[fred]

DDR2 RAM is still pricey so I'll have to stick with 4gb for now. Either way DX12 will be a big life-saver for those of us on weaker CPUs so I might get to squeeze quite a bit of life from it.

The way I understand the benefits of DX12 the opposite is true - you'll get a bigger boost from your GPU processing if you have a more powerful CPU. If you have a more powerful CPU then the GPU throws more of its number crunching work to it, leaving the GPU with less work to do, giving you performance boosts. The less powerful your CPU is, the more work your GPU has to do.

At least that's the way I understand things, I could be wrong..?

 

[SneakyStephan]

Don't think any of my hardware came with shrink wrap, only seals on some of them to see if it was opened or not.



Do you mean 980Ti? Yes, it's very good card for the price tag. I'd say get it if you need card now - I don't think the Pascal will blow it away, definitely better but worth the wait? Depends, 980Ti should last you long time with everything maxed.
Pascal should come in first quarter of 2016, but I wouldn't be surprised if it came little later than that.

Big pascal will have twice as many transistors as big maxwell and 3 times the memory bandwidth.

If pascal doesn't blow maxwell away then nvidia will have really fucked up.

 

[Oxn]

Has there been a fix to IvyBridge/or is it Z77 where you cant put your computer to sleep? It will awake from sleep in like 30minutes on its own.

 

[Petite Feet]

My recommendation to you is similar to what the guy had above, but with some changes to better suit your 3D rendering and animation:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($26.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.99)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.00 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0 Video Card ($308.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define S ATX Mid Tower Case ($68.40 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX Core Edition 850W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1089.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-07 03:22 EDT-0400

As mentioned above, Microcenter is offering the processor and motherboard as a locally-available bundle together for $355.

Cool thanks!

 

[60EffPeeEss]

Got a Sapphire Tri-X R9 390X coming in the post. Rubbing my loins in anticipation.

 

[Wag]

I seem to be good @ 4.3GHz on my 5820k/1.299v. I played Witcher 3 for a bit and peaked ~70C. I was concerned because Prime95 had me >95C. I might try for 4.4 or 4.5, but 4.3 seems to be pretty good on air considering. The 2nd heatsink fan seems to have made the difference.

Time to sell my old Ivy Bridge and DDR3 and pick up a 3rd 980Ti. 😀

MSI's Command Center is a really nice piece of software btw.

 

[SpeedySwaf]

So I'm hoping I'm almost done:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer i30 74.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($39.01 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($114.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($135.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Crucial BX100 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.20 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0 Video Card ($308.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Antec P100 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($96.50 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.75 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1333.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-07 14:52 EDT-0400

Got everything plugged in. When I turn the power on I see the cooler fan spin, and the LED on the motherboard also lights up. However, I can't seem to get any signal from it on my tv. I'm using an HDMI, so when that didn't work I tried another HDMI that I know was working, but the same problem. I'm kinda thinking that maybe I don't have the CPU power chord plugged in far enough, but could something else be causing this?

 

[Mordeccai]

Yeah a fresh install should help. I'd also recommend MSI Afterburner instead of EVGA Precision X.

It appears a total deletion of all nvidia files and drivers coupled with a reinstall has fixed my problems, for today at least. Doing some play testing today. Just loaded up Afterburner as well. Thanks for the help man.

 

[yatesl]

Would 3DMark be a good use of testing power consumption? I was going to run Mad Max for a while, but figured Firestrike would push my system more than a recent game.

I've recently bought a power meter to see how much electric the various PCs in my house are using, and to my surprise my 4670 @ 4.2GHz 2.23v (permanent, not offset) only draws under 150w when watching a 1080p60 YouTube video, and around only 300w when running Firestrike.

I know the addage "500w is more than enough for a single card", but I never realised there was that much headroom. I feel like my XFX 750w Bronze PSU is barely lifting a finger (although I know it was a 'mistake' to buy one that size anyway).


I figure the only way to stress it more would be to run Prime95 and Furmark simultaneously.

 

[Revenant]

Hey PC thread. A few questions regarding an upgrade.

My current pc set up:

CPU - i2500k
GPU - AMD Radeon 6950 HD 2gb
RAM - 4 GB DDR3 GSkill

The RAM is an obvious upgrade that'll need to happen as I'm looking to play the GTA V on high/very high settings and Just Cause 3 later this year among other big titles late 2015/early 2016.

I was looking at getting a GTX 970 and bumping up to two 8 gb sticks for ram.

RAM seems dirt cheap but as far as jumping on the 970 bandwagon would that be a solid choice for the current and near future crop of game releases or is there any merit to waiting until the next generation of cards? And any AMD's even worth considering?

Also any benefit to waiting until the end of the year for a GPU purchase?

Or have the prices remained fairly constant I haven't really kept up with the pricing in the past year and a half.

 

[RGM79]

After building my current PC in 2008 I've decided to build a new one in November this year/May next year (will be doing it in two parts!). I've decided what I'll be getting:

CPU - Intel Core i7 4790K 4GHz Socket 1150 £269.86
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-Z97P-D3 Motherboard £70.90
CPU Cooling - Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator and Fan £57.92
RAM - 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM (Kit of 2) HyperX Fury Black Series £65.86
Optical Drive - Samsung 24X Internal DVD Writer with SATA and M-Disc £11.49
Case - COOLER MASTER CM STORM TROOPER WITH WINDOW - USB3.0 XL ATX CASE £145.77
Total £621.80

GPU - XFX R9 390X BLACK EDITION 8GB GDDR5 £319.98

So I've got a few questions:

1) Would I be right in thinking that the above setup will be able to run either Oculus Rift or HTC Vive when they release..?
2) Is Windows 10 a pain in the arse like previous versions and tied to a PC's hardware..? Years ago you always had to reinstall Windows whenever you changed the motherboard which has always been a MAJOR pain in the arse. I'm planning on using all 4 of my current SATA hard drives with the new system.
3) Have I forgotten anything, it's been YEARS since I built a PC lol
4) Is it all compatible (see number 3 lol)..?
5) Can you think of any improvements without spending that much more money..? I've got a maximum of £675 to spend in November and £675 to spend in May next year.
6) I'm planning on either getting the GPU in November and the rest in May next year or the other way around. Do you think the prices of the components of each of the two parts will come down before then? I.e. would I be better off getting the GPU first in November or the rest of the machine in May or the other way around..?

Sorry for all of the questions, any help is very much appreciated! Prices are from Ebuyer but will obviously shop around!

1. VR gaming does not require anything different from normal gaming, just higher performance because your PC will need to produce two images instead of one. How well the setup will run will be difficult to say until the different VR platforms will launch and they can be tested thoroughly.
2. Yes, it's still tied to the hardware.
3 & 4. It's all compatible, but you forgot to list the power supply unless you're reusing your old one.
5 & 6. As Raider1874 says, we usually recommend against building a PC if you're going to wait so long before buying most of your parts. As time goes on..

• the cost of parts will change (by how much and when no one knows, but for example maybe DDR4 becomes cheaper and you can afford a Skylake-based PC?)
• you may decide that you want other parts instead (if it turns out that certain parts or Nvidia or AMD are better suited to VR gaming or DX12 makes a large difference)
• the warranty coverage on the parts you buy first will run out earlier (it's also easier to return defective parts to the retailer the sooner you are to when they were purchased)
• and since you will be already waiting until May of next year, why not wait and see how VR gaming turns out before buying parts?

So I've had some problem with my PC this weekend, had to remove a harddrive and 8GB of RAM. Not sure if everything is working correct yet but it looked good last night. So now I'm deciding if I need to upgrade back to 16GB. I mainly game and surf the web, but I do enjoy having lots of stuff open at once. Should I upgrade or just stay at 8? Also someone mentioned more ram = more heat? How much are we talking?

Rest of my specs:
i5-3570 @ 3,4GHz
EVGA SC GTX 980 TI
1TB SATA HDD
600W PSU

You should be just fine with 8GB, but 16GB wouldn't hurt if you don't mind paying for it.

I'm not really sure what they mean by "more RAM = more heat". Yes, RAM does produce heat.. but it's not that much. Nothing that would mean the difference between a PC overheating or not. Maybe a few degrees.. I don't know of any tech sites that have measured the heat added to a PC by adding more RAM, that's how much of a non-factor it is.

Hey PC thread. A few questions regarding an upgrade.

My current pc set up:

CPU - i2500k
GPU - AMD Radeon 6950 HD 2gb
RAM - 4 GB DDR3 GSkill

The RAM is an obvious upgrade that'll need to happen as I'm looking to play the GTA V on high/very high settings and Just Cause 3 later this year among other big titles late 2015/early 2016. I was looking at getting a GTX 970 and bumping up to two 8 gb sticks for ram.

RAM seems dirt cheap but as far as jumping on the 970 bandwagon would that be a solid choice for the current and near future crop of game releases or is there any merit to waiting until the next generation of cards? And any AMD's even worth considering?

Also any benefit to waiting until the end of the year for a GPU purchase? Or have the prices remained fairly constant I haven't really kept up with the pricing in the past year and a half.

Nothing concrete is known about the next generation of graphics cards in terms of performance, so it's really hard to say. There's always something to wait for just over the horizon, though. Not much point in thinking about it, you'll always be holding out for whatever is coming next. As I understand it, the R9 390 is the GTX 970's direct competitor and can offer somewhat better performance if you'll be playing at 1440p, depending on the game.

GPU pricing seems very stubborn and refusing to drop. AMD has done some competitive price cuts in the last year or so, but generally speaking it appears that they would rather bundle free game codes with graphics cards than actually cut the price of graphics cards outright. At least the games that have been bundled with graphics cards are fairly desirable triple-A games like GTAV, Witcher 3, Batman Arkham Knight, MGSV:TPP, etc.

So I'm hoping I'm almost done:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer i30 74.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($39.01 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($114.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($135.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Crucial BX100 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.20 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0 Video Card ($308.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Antec P100 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($96.50 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.75 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1333.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-07 14:52 EDT-0400

Got everything plugged in. When I turn the power on I see the cooler fan spin, and the LED on the motherboard also lights up. However, I can't seem to get any signal from it on my tv. I'm using an HDMI, so when that didn't work I tried another HDMI that I know was working, but the same problem. I'm kinda thinking that maybe I don't have the CPU power chord plugged in far enough, but could something else be causing this?

Have you plugged in the graphics card power cables?

 

[SpeedySwaf]

Have you plugged in the graphics card power cables?

Yes, heard them click in.