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"I Need a New PC!" 2016 Plus Ultra! HBM2, VR, 144Hz, and 4K for all!

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I'm debating selling my iPad as I don't use it as much as I should, and so I'm thinking of using the iPad money to buy a new graphics card.

I currently have an i5-3570k, 8GB RAM, GTX 970. A couple of things:

- Is 8GB RAM suitable these days? Is it a bottleneck?
- I play at 1080p as my PC is connected to the same monitor as my PS4, which also does FreeSync. Is it worth getting a 1070 or 1080 for 1080p? Better to wait for AMD's Vega cards to use FreeSync? Would I even want FreeSync if I had a powerful card anyway?
- I'm sure my CPU is fine, 2500k's are still decent.... right?

I think 970's are still good for 1080p unless you want extreme settings, 4k textures, and greater than 120 fps. Are you unhappy with the performance? If so go ahead and get a 1070. 8gb is fine for gaming. 2500k's (or is it a 3570k?) are still decent, but they need to be overclocked to catch up to newer intel cpus.
 
- 8GB is still fine, it wouldn't hurt to upgrade to 16GB since more games are starting to recommend 16GB RAM.
- You can get away with a 1060 or RX 480 at 1080p, the 1070 will definitely give you more power for 1440p too.
-Yes, they are still decent although getting a bit long in the tooth.

I don't know if I would jump from a 970 to a rx480 or 1060. Its an upgrade for sure, but not really that big of one. You can overclock the 970 and reach stock 480/1060/980 performance. Go for at least a 980ti/1070 if you are going to upgrade, IMO.
 

r0x0rman

Gold Member
Hey Guys,

I've had my current build for almost 7 years now (!!) and am thinking of upgrading. Here is my current situation:

- Your Current Specs: i7-920 / 12 GB RAM / ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 / GTX 970 / PSU 850 / Antec 1200 / 1 TB SSD, 2 TB HD
- Budget: 3K US
- Main Use: Gaming
- Monitor Resolution: 1440p g-sync
- List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: Games at 60+ fps. Virtualization. VR.
- Looking to reuse any parts?: Probably not
- When will you build?: Do you have a deadline? Problably this fall or when a game comes out that I can't run acceptable levels.
- Will you be overclocking?: No​

I don't game competively anymore, but I still love high frame rates and responsiveness. However, I stil may not upgrade as my current machine still runs most games really well. Deux Ex Revolution is the first game that has given me trouble (it feels floating/unresponsive), but I think it may be an issue specific to that game. Usually I can play close to max settings and then turn off some gfx feature I barely notice to get 45+ FPS and then gsync seems to help out really well in this area.

Here is what I'm thinking of getting: PC Part Picker

- CPU Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor $328.99
- CPU Cooler Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler $98.98
- Motherboard Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard $204.98
- Memory G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
- Storage Samsung 950 PRO 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive $315.62
- Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive $309.99
- Video Card EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card $679.99
- Case Corsair Air 540 ATX Mid Tower Case $129.79
- Power Supply Corsair 750W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply $144.99​

I don't really pay attention to hardware between builds so I always have a lot of catching up to do. Want to see what you guys think of this and specifically which 1080 card to get. Thanks.
 

kuYuri

Member
I don't know if I would jump from a 970 to a rx480 or 1060. Its an upgrade for sure, but not really that big of one. You can overclock the 970 and reach stock 480/1060/980 performance. Go for at least a 980ti/1070 if you are going to upgrade, IMO.

True, I would agree if you're coming from a 970, the 1070 is a real and better upgrade.
 
It looks like my EVGA 1080 SC LED lighting has died, tried turning it back off then on in GFE but no joy, I've also restarted the system. I haven't physically touched it so it's not anything I've done, could it be a GFE bug? It had been working perfectly before thias evening.
 
It looks like my EVGA 1080 SC LED lighting has died, tried turning it back off then on in GFE but no joy, I've also restarted the system. I haven't physically touched it so it's not anything I've done, could it be a GFE bug? It had been working perfectly before thias evening.

Just to clarify, you mean solely the lighting, right?
 
It looks like my EVGA 1080 SC LED lighting has died, tried turning it back off then on in GFE but no joy, I've also restarted the system. I haven't physically touched it so it's not anything I've done, could it be a GFE bug? It had been working perfectly before thias evening.

Were you able to control the lighting before or its always on? Do you have EVGA's precision software installed? Even if you haven't touched it, I would try to see if maybe the led's power connection is loose. Other than that you should try contacting evga, they have very good support. If the led's are really dead though, you'll have to decide if its worth sending the card in for an RMA. Personally I wouldn't but for the price you paid, you really deserve to have everything working on the card.
 
Were you able to control the lighting before or its always on? Do you have EVGA's precision software installed? Even if you haven't touched it, I would try to see if maybe the led's power connection is loose. Other than that you should try contacting evga, they have very good support. If the led's are really dead though, you'll have to decide if its worth sending the card in for an RMA. Personally I wouldn't but for the price you paid, you really deserve to have everything working on the card.

Yeah I was able to control the lighting before today, I have Precision OC installed but the LED option is grayed out because it's the OC version of the 1080.

Where is the LED cable?
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
Not sure where to ask this so I figured I'd dump it in here. I recently bought a Gsync monitor (Asus pg278q) from a friend and in the last few days I've been experimenting by trying out either Gsync or ULMB on different games. I've noticed that when I switch the refresh rate on the panel sometimes it goes from a normal light output to super bright. its comparable to changing the backlight setting on an LCD tv from low to high. Anyone have any idea what that is?
Hmm. Well with ULMB turned on the panel is a lot dimmer than what is supposed to be normal. Maybe it's just the contrast between lightboost on and off?
 
Yeah I was able to control the lighting before today, I have Precision OC installed but the LED option is grayed out because it's the OC version of the 1080.

Where is the LED cable?

Honestly I'm not sure. You'll have the manually inspect the card I think. If you can't reach anything without taking off the shroud and cooler, I'd say just talk to evga first.
 

Khaz

Member
Not really new, but I have an Athlon 2800+ that I want to make silent. I found the Dynatron T51G, which is fanless so it's cool, but it looks super tiny. Will it melt the old ass processor or did cooling technology advance massively in the last ten years?
 

LilJoka

Member
Not really new, but I have an Athlon 2800+ that I want to make silent. I found the Dynatron T51G, which is fanless so it's cool, but it looks super tiny. Will it melt the old ass processor or did cooling technology advance massively in the last ten years?

It's a 1U cooler, indicating a server product, which would have a screaming fan with high CFM/RPM to make up for the tiny heatsink. It's not fanless, just comes without the required fan.
At 80W, you'll need a decent cooler like a hyper 212.
 
Alright dudes I need some help installing windows. This is a fresh usb copy that I just bought. Every time I try to do a custom install it says no signed device drivers were found?
 
Hey guys,

I'm getting ready to upgrade the 6 year old rig here. Looking through the OP, I'm putting together a great+ model from Haz's sheet (or the screen shot of it, since the link doesn't seem to work?). I have a couple of questions though:

Is it feasible these days to go fully SSD? I am pretty tempted to do that. There's a note in there about SSDs going fully corrupt on power loss that's giving me some pause though. Also, it recommends getting a battery backup, but I don't see a particular one recommended. Does it not matter much?

Should I spoil myself with a GTX 1070, or save a little money with the 1060?

The note mentions something about not getting RAM with big fins, but I dunno how to tell that while browsing online. I currently have this in the build I'm planning: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (http://pcpartpicker.com/product/MYH48d/corsair-memory-cmk16gx4m2b3000c15) Good choice?

It kind of looks like the motherboard I picked doesn't have onboard audio? (Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard http://pcpartpicker.com/product/Q9Gj4D/asus-motherboard-z170a). Am I wrong? Should I snag the soundcard in the great spec anyway? (Asus Xonar DGX)

Is the only reason to choose a 6700k over a 6700 CPU a desire to overclock? I'm realistically never going to bother, but it looks like it's faster on its own too. Pre-OCed?

Thanks/Sorry about all the questions
 

LilJoka

Member
Alright dudes I need some help installing windows. This is a fresh usb copy that I just bought. Every time I try to do a custom install it says no signed device drivers were found?

Sounds like it can't find a drive to install to.
Are your HDDS or SSDs visible in the bios?

Hey guys,

I'm getting ready to upgrade the 6 year old rig here. Looking through the OP, I'm putting together a great+ model from Haz's sheet (or the screen shot of it, since the link doesn't seem to work?). I have a couple of questions though:

Is it feasible these days to go fully SSD? I am pretty tempted to do that. There's a note in there about SSDs going fully corrupt on power loss that's giving me some pause though. Also, it recommends getting a battery backup, but I don't see a particular one recommended. Does it not matter much?

Should I spoil myself with a GTX 1070, or save a little money with the 1060?

The note mentions something about not getting RAM with big fins, but I dunno how to tell that while browsing online. I currently have this in the build I'm planning: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (http://pcpartpicker.com/product/MYH48d/corsair-memory-cmk16gx4m2b3000c15) Good choice?

It kind of looks like the motherboard I picked doesn't have onboard audio? (Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard http://pcpartpicker.com/product/Q9Gj4D/asus-motherboard-z170a). Am I wrong? Should I snag the soundcard in the great spec anyway? (Asus Xonar DGX)

Is the only reason to choose a 6700k over a 6700 CPU a desire to overclock? I'm realistically never going to bother, but it looks like it's faster on its own too. Pre-OCed?

Thanks/Sorry about all the questions

Yet to see the SSD power down issue occur, I only saw this on old crucial drives.

Z170 A has onboard audio. Sound card isn't needed.

Something like g.skill trident z has tall ram heatsinks, corsair LPX don't. You can tell either by dimensions or photos.

6700k is faster at stock and can be overclocked easily over the 6700.
 
Hey guys,

I'm getting ready to upgrade the 6 year old rig here. Looking through the OP, I'm putting together a great+ model from Haz's sheet (or the screen shot of it, since the link doesn't seem to work?). I have a couple of questions though:

Is it feasible these days to go fully SSD? I am pretty tempted to do that. There's a note in there about SSDs going fully corrupt on power loss that's giving me some pause though. Also, it recommends getting a battery backup, but I don't see a particular one recommended. Does it not matter much?

Should I spoil myself with a GTX 1070, or save a little money with the 1060?

The note mentions something about not getting RAM with big fins, but I dunno how to tell that while browsing online. I currently have this in the build I'm planning: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (http://pcpartpicker.com/product/MYH48d/corsair-memory-cmk16gx4m2b3000c15) Good choice?

It kind of looks like the motherboard I picked doesn't have onboard audio? (Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard http://pcpartpicker.com/product/Q9Gj4D/asus-motherboard-z170a). Am I wrong? Should I snag the soundcard in the great spec anyway? (Asus Xonar DGX)

Is the only reason to choose a 6700k over a 6700 CPU a desire to overclock? I'm realistically never going to bother, but it looks like it's faster on its own too. Pre-OCed?

Thanks/Sorry about all the questions

Regarding the GPU, that depends on your budget and how much you feel like spoiling yourself. A 1070 is a tad overkill for 1080p at the moment, but also guarantees you won't be struggling anytime soon either. If you can afford it without sacrificing anything elsewhere, it might be worth the investment.
 
Go into UEFI
Boot section
See what drives are available, usually listed at the bottom.

Its only showing the windows 10 flash drive. Pardon the speckles, I shattered the glass on my camera.

fHOG3Go.jpg


OM7kEdP.jpg
 
I just bought a 500GB SSD and I want to transfer the contents of my existing 256GB SSD to it. How would I go about doing that? I've used up all my SATA ports, but I can make room to have both drives in at once.
 

Hawk269

Member
So what is the best gaming CPU money can buy these days? Looking for a new CPU in the near future, money is not an issue, but don't want to waste money at the same time. Just want the best CPU for gaming. CPU will be paired with a pair of Titan X Pascal GPU's.
 

Khaz

Member
It's a 1U cooler, indicating a server product, which would have a screaming fan with high CFM/RPM to make up for the tiny heatsink. It's not fanless, just comes without the required fan.
At 80W, you'll need a decent cooler like a hyper 212.

Right, that's more like it. The hyper 212 isn't compatible with socket 754 motherboards though? I'm considering getting the DeepCool GAMMAXX 300, which seem to have good numbers in terms of quietness even at full load. I'm not planning any overclocking on this old thing anyway.
 

LilJoka

Member
Its only showing the windows 10 flash drive. Pardon the speckles, I shattered the glass on my camera.

fHOG3Go.jpg


OM7kEdP.jpg

That looks like there is a single drive of 16GB, 2 variants, one to boot UEFI or BIOS. Likely your Windows installation media.

Re check your drive connections.

Right, that's more like it. The hyper 212 isn't compatible with socket 754 motherboards though? I'm considering getting the DeepCool GAMMAXX 300, which seem to have good numbers in terms of quietness even at full load. I'm not planning any overclocking on this old thing anyway.

That looks much better.
 

J_Viper

Member
Anyone here ever order from CyberPowerPC directly?

My order was placed on hold because the billing address was incorrect, but after I fixed it up, I'm not sure if the order will continue as intended, or if I need to order again.

That coupon would cover about 2% of the additional price they are charging.

The way I see it, assembling the PC is one of the easier parts of PC ownership. Troubleshooting software or hardware, and effective part selection (not just compatibility but deals and price/performance) is harder than assembly.

Buying a prebuilt is also more or less committing to throwing the entire thing away a few years down the road and spending another $1500 on another one. Whereas building yourself gets you some components you know you can stick with and upgrade piecemeal. It's both immediately cheaper and saves even more in the long run. Maybe something like a Cyberpower PC is more upgrade friendly than your standard HP trash that sometimes doesn't even include a PSU capable of powering the included GPU, but you still lose all choice in components and can't make decisions that will make better long term investments.

You're probably right on the investment lasting longer on self-built, but... I just can't, I have no confidence in myself to do it.
 
Sounds like it can't find a drive to install to.
Are your HDDS or SSDs visible in the bios?



Yet to see the SSD power down issue occur, I only saw this on old crucial drives.

Z170 A has onboard audio. Sound card isn't needed.

Something like g.skill trident z has tall ram heatsinks, corsair LPX don't. You can tell either by dimensions or photos.

6700k is faster at stock and can be overclocked easily over the 6700.

Regarding the GPU, that depends on your budget and how much you feel like spoiling yourself. A 1070 is a tad overkill for 1080p at the moment, but also guarantees you won't be struggling anytime soon either. If you can afford it without sacrificing anything elsewhere, it might be worth the investment.


Thanks guys!
 

Setreal

Member
Hey guys. In preparation for Civilization 6 I decided to check my specs on canirunit and see if I need to upgrade anything and found my video card failed on the recommended settings test. The game recommends a Radeon 7970 but I already have a 7970. For some reason their system is detecting that I have a "Radeon 7900 Series" and is considering that a failure. Similarly I checked dxdiag and GPU-Z and they all say "Radeon 7900 Series" .

Does anyone happen to know if this an issue or should I not worry about it?
 

z3phon

Member
Would appreciate some advice and recommendations for monitors. Looking for a 1440P 144HZ G-Sync IPS monitor. Every one keeps recommending the Asus Rog Swift PG279Q or the Acer Predator. Between those two I prefer how the Asus Rog looks but would like a some recommendations from you guys. Are there any good options that are cheaper than either of these two?
https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Monitors/ROG-SWIFT-PG279Q/
 

Jesb

Member
I have 6gb and it doesn't crash or say anything about memory running low.

It actually wasn't a ram problem. It runs fine now. I was just going low on HDD space. When it said low on memory I assumed it was a ram issue since the game was already installed, but I forgot you can still run into issues when HDD is getting low.
 
So what is the best gaming CPU money can buy these days? Looking for a new CPU in the near future, money is not an issue, but don't want to waste money at the same time. Just want the best CPU for gaming. CPU will be paired with a pair of Titan X Pascal GPU's.

If money really isn't an issue then an i7-6950X or some Xeon probably. However these CPU's are for heavier tasks than gaming such as rendering and server work. If you are just wanting to play games then get an i7-6700K. If you feel you don't need hyperthreading then an i5-6600K is fine. People tend to go for an i7 over i5 if they are streaming/recording games, editing video, and other such tasks.

In games there is little difference between an i5-6600K, i7-6700K/6800K/6900K/6950X. The price difference isn't worth it.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
I think this is what I've settled on, minus the little things. Some fans, OEM slim disc drive, adapter(s), etc.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($227.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer 120 74.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($60.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($135.66 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Toshiba X300 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 480 8GB Red Devil Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Silverstone SG10B MicroATX Mini Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $0.00)
Sound Card: Creative Labs Z PCIe 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $489.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-25 00:48 EDT-0400

Bought various parts over the last year. Current prices are irrelevant since I'll probably buy the rest together once holiday sales hit.
 

leng jai

Member
Regarding the GPU, that depends on your budget and how much you feel like spoiling yourself. A 1070 is a tad overkill for 1080p at the moment, but also guarantees you won't be struggling anytime soon either. If you can afford it without sacrificing anything elsewhere, it might be worth the investment.

I don't know of why people are claiming the 1070 is overkill for 1080p. It already can't hold 1080/60fps in games like Tomb Raider and Deus Ex with all the settings on and no AA.
 

LilJoka

Member
I don't know of why people are claiming the 1070 is overkill for 1080p. It already can't hold 1080/60fps in games like Tomb Raider and Deus Ex with all the settings on and no AA.

I agree. 1070 is perfect for 1080p60 in terms of value for money and consistency across titles.
 
Fractal Define S Nano



Just saw these. Thanks for the recommendations!

The Define S nano looks cool. I have a Fractal case and Im happy with it. The NZXT Manta looks beautiful but it's just too big for what I'm trying to achieve. The caselabs is also beautiful.

Most of these are really nice actually
 
I don't know of why people are claiming the 1070 is overkill for 1080p. It already can't hold 1080/60fps in games like Tomb Raider and Deus Ex with all the settings on and no AA.

it's because in most games you can get crazy framerates even with really high settings. anywhere between 80-130fps is possible. if you can render that many frames you might be as well use that power to go up to 1440p and stay at 60fps.

i have a 1070 and play mostly at 1080p 60fps. if i can downsample from 1440p i will. the way i see it is the card will last longer at 1080p 60fps than 1440p 60fps before i need to start dropping settings. if games are giving me 80-130fps now then it'll take a while before i start struggling to maintain 60fps. if im at 1440p that'll happen much sooner.

i'm happy with 1080p and thought about getting a 1440p monitor but i'll just make this pc last until i'm ready to build a 4k 60fps pc.
 

ehead

Member
I don't know if this is the proper thread but does anyone know of good tv's for pc gaming? I saw the comfy couch pc gaming thread but its just talking about streaming devices. I'm interested in purchasing a new tv in the next two months and I'd like to know what y'all are using for couch/bed pc gaming. I currently have an old Sony 1080p LCD tv and I've noticed that the colors/response times are years apart from my current IPS monitor.

My preferences: size should be minimum 40 inches and cost would not exceed $800.
 

leng jai

Member
it's because in most games you can get crazy framerates even with really high settings. anywhere between 80-130fps is possible. if you can render that many frames you might be as well use that power to go up to 1440p and stay at 60fps.

i have a 1070 and play mostly at 1080p 60fps. if i can downsample from 1440p i will. the way i see it is the card will last longer at 1080p 60fps than 1440p 60fps before i need to start dropping settings. if games are giving me 80-130fps now then it'll take a while before i start struggling to maintain 60fps. if im at 1440p that'll happen much sooner.

i'm happy with 1080p and thought about getting a 1440p monitor but i'll just make this pc last until i'm ready to build a 4k 60fps pc.

Exactly, it's essentially a 1080p card that can run some newer titles at 1440p and last gen games at 4K. Overkill would be if it could play every game at 1080p maxed out with ease at 70fps plus but that's already not the case. It's only going to struggle more over time so if you want to play at 1080p with higher end settings in the foreseeable future I wouldn't be buying anything less than a 1070.
 

LilJoka

Member
I don't know if this is the proper thread but does anyone know of good tv's for pc gaming? I saw the comfy couch pc gaming thread but its just talking about streaming devices. I'm interested in purchasing a new tv in the next two months and I'd like to know what y'all are using for couch/bed pc gaming. I currently have an old Sony 1080p LCD tv and I've noticed that the colors/response times are years apart from my current IPS monitor.

My preferences: size should be minimum 40 inches and cost would not exceed $800.

Try this thread too
http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=516410
 
I don't know if this is the proper thread but does anyone know of good tv's for pc gaming? I saw the comfy couch pc gaming thread but its just talking about streaming devices. I'm interested in purchasing a new tv in the next two months and I'd like to know what y'all are using for couch/bed pc gaming. I currently have an old Sony 1080p LCD tv and I've noticed that the colors/response times are years apart from my current IPS monitor.

My preferences: size should be minimum 40 inches and cost would not exceed $800.

I'm using the Samsung 55" JS8000 4KTV (JS8500 model in the US) and a Corsair Lapdog with cables routed behind the couch. Thankfully, Samsung has updated the firmware of the JS8000 to support HDR. It already has a 10-bit panel, HDMI2.0a and Local Dimming feature, although mine is edge-lit, not full-array.

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