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[Mineshaft_Gap]

Peak temp.
Stress test to 75-80*c peak.

Thanks. Why do I keep getting clocks at 4.450GHz when I set my CPU clock to 4.5Ghz?

Any suggestion on the most accurate tool to measure CPU temps? I get a wild variance between HW monitor and AIDA64's own measurements. (5 degrees+)

 

[chaosblade]

Hey guys, odd request here...

My grandparents recently lost their PC (dell pre-built) and I told them I'd help with the replacement. They don't want a chromebook and I'd prefer to build something rather than them buy something too expensive for their needs.

For simple browsing/email/streaming, and for storing photos/videos from camera phones, would the following build get the job done?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A6-5400K 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($38.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A78M PRO3+ Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($65.90 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($20.48 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 500W ATX Power Supply ($42.60 @ Amazon)
Total: $255.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-31 17:25 EDT-0400


Side question - is there an idiot-proof Linux distro these days? I'd rather them have something slightly safer (history of PC problems), but not if they're going to have to relearn how to computer.

Welcome to any and all suggestions.
Thanks!!

You could probably go cheaper on the PSU and motherboard. At a glance FM2+ boards are as low as $40ish after rebate.

Linux and Windows have some fundamental differences that will mean there is a learning curve regardless of distro. Looks like there are some like Zorin and Chalet that are specifically designed to be very Windows-like but I have no idea how good or easy to use they are.

 

[LilJoka]

Thanks. Why do I keep getting clocks at 4.450GHz when I set my CPU clock to 4.5Ghz?

Any suggestion on the most accurate tool to measure CPU temps? I get a wild variance between HW monitor and AIDA64's own measurements. (5 degrees+)

Disable CPU spread spectrum, check if the bclk is 100mhz in CPUz, the spread spectrum can cause it to fluctuate a bit throwing the speed off slightly. Set the bclk to 100mhz in bios too, along with the 100mhz strap.

Coretemp and HWmonitor should report the same. I don't use Aida64 much.

 

[Ludovico]

.

Appreciate it!

One more - helping a friend build a gaming PC, we're trying to order the parts tonight.

Your Current Specs: HP all-in-one. Meh
Budget: Trying to keep everything under 800, ordering in USA and hopefully all through Amazon
Main Use: Light gaming (Civ VI, League, CRPG's, current gen ports)
Monitor Resolution: 1080p, hopefully mid to high settings, no frills (hairworks, physX)
When will you build?: This week
Will you be overclocking?: No

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($118.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI H110M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($51.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 470 4GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake Core V21 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($56.03 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($80.33 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($92.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $799.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-31 18:34 EDT-0400

Think we can shave some off the RAM (by going 1 card with 8 and upgrading down the road) and PSU.
Also, going with AMD instead of the 1060. Any chance he runs into any issues for new releases?

 

[Mineshaft_Gap]

Disable CPU spread spectrum, check if the bclk is 100mhz in CPUz, the spread spectrum can cause it to fluctuate a bit throwing the speed off slightly. Set the bclk to 100mhz in bios too, along with the 100mhz strap.

Coretemp and HWmonitor should report the same. I don't use Aida64 much.

Is it possible that CPU spread spectrum could be called something else? Not seeing it in my Asus MOBO.

 

[chaosblade]

Appreciate it!

One more - helping a friend build a gaming PC, we're trying to order the parts tonight.

Your Current Specs: HP all-in-one. Meh
Budget: Trying to keep everything under 800, ordering in USA and hopefully all through Amazon
Main Use: Light gaming (Civ VI, League, CRPG's, current gen ports)
Monitor Resolution: 1080p, hopefully mid to high settings, no frills (hairworks, physX)
When will you build?: This week
Will you be overclocking?: No

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($118.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI H110M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($51.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 470 4GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake Core V21 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($56.03 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($80.33 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($92.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $799.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-31 18:34 EDT-0400

Think we can shave some off the RAM (by going 1 card with 8 and upgrading down the road) and PSU.
Also, going with AMD instead of the 1060. Any chance he runs into any issues for new releases?

Using any single retailer is going to limit your part selection a lot, both in terms of availability and budget.

For starters that PSU is terrible, CX is not good and just rides Corsair's good reputation. For the same price you can get this.

And AMD GPUs are fine. They mostly just lack in features/extras, like Shadowplay and Gamestream. And I don't think there's really an alternative to Inspector right now. None of that directly interferes with playing games though.

Cheapest RAM, you can actually get two single DIMMs for less than 2x 8GB.

 

[ColdDeckEd]

Is it possible that CPU spread spectrum could be called something else? Not seeing it in my Asus MOBO.

check the digi+vrm menu

 

[Ludovico]

You could probably go cheaper on the PSU and motherboard. At a glance FM2+ boards are as low as $40ish after rebate.

Linux and Windows have some fundamental differences that will mean there is a learning curve regardless of distro. Looks like there are some like Zorin and Chalet that are specifically designed to be very Windows-like but I have no idea how good or easy to use they are.

Shoot, parts picker doesn't have this guy listed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PIGRGGC/?tag=neogaf0e-20

As long as the socket type and ram is the same as the ones I already have picked out, should be good, right?

Edit - thoughts on this PSU?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000LM7PCS/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[Ashhong]

I am so so so tempted to upgrade my R9 270 to a Sapphire Nitro+ RX480. Do you guys recommend this right now or should I wait? I don't follow this stuff too much but I was told that AMD would release a new GPU soon that would drop the price of the 480 and Nvidia 1060.

 

[Amory]

If I last built a PC in 2012 and haven't upgraded anything since the original build, is it worth upgrading now to make it an adequate 2016 gaming rig, or am I just looking at building a new one at this point?

Here's what's in my 2012 pc:


Core i5 2500k processor

PRO550W power supply

ASUS P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Z68 SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0 ATX Intel Z68 ATX DDR3 2200 Intel Motherboard

8 gb DDR3 1600 MHz ram

GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB video card

 

[Big Chungus]

cancelled my 1070 order, might just buy a 1060 for my 1080p gaming if its cheap during black friday/boxing day.

 

[chaosblade]

If I last built a PC in 2012 and haven't upgraded anything since the original build, is it worth upgrading now to make it an adequate 2016 gaming rig, or am I just looking at building a new one at this point?

Here's what's in my 2012 pc:


Core i5 2500k processor

PRO550W power supply

ASUS P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Z68 SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0 ATX Intel Z68 ATX DDR3 2200 Intel Motherboard

8 gb DDR3 1600 MHz ram

GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB video card

It would require a pretty substantial upgrade, but you could ride most of that out a bit longer if you wanted. Overclock if you haven't (get a cooler if you don't have one) and upgrade the GPU. A new GPU and cooler could carry over to a bigger upgrade with CPU/mobo/RAM later (+ PSU/case if you want).

Shoot, parts picker doesn't have this guy listed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PIGRGGC/?tag=neogaf0e-20

As long as the socket type and ram is the same as the ones I already have picked out, should be good, right?

Edit - thoughts on this PSU?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000LM7PCS/?tag=neogaf0e-20

If it has the right socket and chipset it will work. There's not really any reason not to go with a DDR4 board with a budget around $800 though.

Avoid the PSU. Here's a decent reference for PSU quality. Aim for tier 3 minimum.

http://i.imgur.com/koLUPLh.jpg

I am so so so tempted to upgrade my R9 270 to a Sapphire Nitro+ RX480. Do you guys recommend this right now or should I wait? I don't follow this stuff too much but I was told that AMD would release a new GPU soon that would drop the price of the 480 and Nvidia 1060.

Unlikely. There are rumors that "little Vega" will replace the 480 and maybe 470 but I don't know if those had any substance. Vega is targeting the higher end market and will compete with the 1070 and up, no guarantees for anything lower than that.

8GB 480s have been as low as $200 after rebate. Not a bad option.

 

[ColdDeckEd]

If I last built a PC in 2012 and haven't upgraded anything since the original build, is it worth upgrading now to make it an adequate 2016 gaming rig, or am I just looking at building a new one at this point?

Here's what's in my 2012 pc:


Core i5 2500k processor

PRO550W power supply

ASUS P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Z68 SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0 ATX Intel Z68 ATX DDR3 2200 Intel Motherboard

8 gb DDR3 1600 MHz ram

GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB video card

How much money are you looking to spend? Upgrading your GPU should be your first priority. With regards to your cpu, alot of people are finally moving on from sandy bridge, but you can still extend its life if you don't have the funds for a full build. is your cpu overclocked? try doing that (if you have good cooling, if not get a good cooler first) and you'll be good for awhile still.

 

[Amory]

It would require a pretty substantial upgrade, but you could ride most of that out a bit longer if you wanted. Overclock if you haven't (get a cooler if you don't have one) and upgrade the GPU. A new GPU and cooler could carry over to a bigger upgrade with CPU/mobo/RAM later (+ PSU/case if you want).

How much money are you looking to spend? Upgrading your GPU should be your first priority. With regards to your cpu, alot of people are finally moving on from sandy bridge, but you can still extend its life if you don't have the funds for a full build. is your cpu overclocked? try doing that (if you have good cooling, if not get a good cooler first) and you'll be good for awhile still.

Thanks. Can either of you recommend a good GPU that will be compatible with my current motherboard? Willing to spend there, if I'm going to be able to avoid buying a whole new PC. What kind of cooler would I need to overclock the CPU?

 

[chaosblade]

Thanks. Can either of you recommend a good GPU that will be compatible with my current motherboard? Willing to spend there, if I'm going to be able to avoid buying a whole new PC. What kind of cooler would I need to overclock the CPU?

Cryorig M9i and its big brother the H7 are the recommended entry level CPU coolers. M9 is roughly equal to the oft-recommended 212, but smaller and cheaper (and apparently better build quality, but I don't know about that). H7 is a bit better.

And any GPU will be compatible. You won't have PCIe 3.0 support but it won't matter. What's your budget? A 470 would be the optimal choice under $200. 1060 and 480 are in the $250 range, give or take, and would be the next step up. Beyond that you are looking at nearly $400 for a 1070 or searching for a good deal on a 980 Ti. 1050 Ti isn't bad, but it's not that much less than a 470 which solidly outperforms it. I'd only recommend that if anything higher is totally outside your budget (or I guess if you absolutely wanted an Nvidia card no matter what, but a 1060 isn't an option).

 

[Ludovico]

If it has the right socket and chipset it will work. There's not really any reason not to go with a DDR4 board with a budget around $800 though.

Avoid the PSU. Here's a decent reference for PSU quality. Aim for tier 3 minimum.

http://i.imgur.com/koLUPLh.jpg

Oops, wires getting crossed there, I was asking about the build for my grandparents daily use PC. Friend is getting the DDR4.
Thanks for the heads up on that PSU though, swapped it out for an EVGA.

 

[Amory]

Cryorig M9i and its big brother the H7 are the recommended entry level CPU coolers. M9 is roughly equal to the oft-recommended 212, but smaller and cheaper (and apparently better build quality, but I don't know about that). H7 is a bit better.

And any GPU will be compatible. You won't have PCIe 3.0 support but it won't matter. What's your budget? A 470 would be the optimal choice under $200. 1060 and 480 are in the $250 range, give or take, and would be the next step up. Beyond that you are looking at nearly $400 for a 1070 or searching for a good deal on a 980 Ti. 1050 Ti isn't bad, but it's not that much less than a 470 which solidly outperforms it. I'd only recommend that if anything higher is totally outside your budget (or I guess if you absolutely wanted an Nvidia card no matter what, but a 1060 isn't an option).

I think I'd be willing to spend $500 or so on the GPU and possibly a RAM upgrade if it'd do me any good.

 

[chaosblade]

I think I'd be willing to spend $500 or so on the GPU and possibly a RAM upgrade if it'd do me any good.

I don't think I'd bother with more RAM. 8GB is still fine for now. By the time you would really need 16GB you will probably be ready to upgrade the CPU and motherboard and need DDR4 anyway.

You could get a 1070 and a nice cooler for under $500. 1070 + a nice CPU overclock would give you a big performance boost.

 

[Bsigg12]

Hey everyone. I'm trying to help a friend build a gaming PC and I have no idea where to start. He has a $1000 budget and I think he wants a 1070 in it, a 1060 might work though. Any help in putting together a PC parts list would be amazing!

 

[SmZA]

I just did a part-upgrade and now have an MSI Z170 motherboard. Initially I installed all the official MSI apps thinking they would help performance. However I found the apps clunky and confusing, and when I discovered my system was slowing to a crawl because msi_device_service was taking up 99% CPU I uninstalled everything in a rage.

Should I reinstall some of the apps? Get third party apps instead? Do I need Gaming LAN Manager to get good network speed or is it a gimmick? Do I need USB Speed Up?

Here's the software MSI ships on disk:

Drivers / Software
Intel Chipset Drivers
Intel Network Drivers
Realtek HD Audio Drivers
Nahimic 2
Intel Serial IO Drivers
Intel ME Drivers
Super Charger

Utilities
Fast Boot
Command Center
Live Update 6
Dragon Eye
Gaming APP
USB Speed Up
RAMDisk
M-Cloud
Gaming LAN Manager
OBS
WTFast
Intel Extreme Tuning Utility
CPU-Z MSI GAMING

Anything there I should reinstall or is it all worthless?

My GPU is also MSI (GTX560Ti) so has its own accelerator utility.

 

[Alienfan]

Hey everyone. I'm trying to help a friend build a gaming PC and I have no idea where to start. He has a $1000 budget and I think he wants a 1070 in it, a 1060 might work though. Any help in putting together a PC parts list would be amazing!

Here's the one I used as a rough guide, https://pcpartpicker.com/guide/nwKH99/great-gaming-build . I basically just used a slightly different motherboard, the R5 case (one of the quietest you can buy) and an i7 because I do quite a bit of editing. The comments section is also really good for finding out if there are other parts that are cheaper/better you could use instead

 

[chaosblade]

I just did a part-upgrade and now have an MSI Z170 motherboard. Initially I installed all the official MSI apps thinking they would help performance. However I found the apps clunky and confusing, and when I discovered my system was slowing to a crawl because msi_device_service was taking up 99% CPU I uninstalled everything in a rage.

Should I reinstall some of the apps? Get third party apps instead? Do I need Gaming LAN Manager to get good network speed or is it a gimmick? Do I need USB Speed Up?

Here's the software MSI ships on disk:

Drivers / Software
Intel Chipset Drivers
Intel Network Drivers
Realtek HD Audio Drivers
Nahimic 2
Intel Serial IO Drivers
Intel ME Drivers
Super Charger

Utilities
Fast Boot
Command Center
Live Update 6
Dragon Eye
Gaming APP
USB Speed Up
RAMDisk
M-Cloud
Gaming LAN Manager
OBS
WTFast
Intel Extreme Tuning Utility
CPU-Z MSI GAMING

Anything there I should reinstall or is it all worthless?

My GPU is also MSI (GTX560Ti) so has its own accelerator utility.

Most of the drivers are fine. Not sure about Nahimic or Super Charger, you could probably do without those. Edit: no need for Intel ME either.

All the utilities can be uninstalled. Fastboot and RAMDisk are the only ones that could be somewhat worthwhile, but even those probably won't be useful to you. I didn't find the improvements from Fastboot to be all that great, and it locks you out of the bios on boot. RAMDisk can be useful if you have a lot of RAM and use disk-intensive software, but chances are if you have a SSD there aren't many things that need even more disk performance.

Several of the other utilities aren't even MSI things, like OBS (recording/streaming software), and CPUz (general tool to read CPU and related hardware info).

 

[SmZA]

Thanks. I do have an SSD. Good to know I'm fine without most of that stuff. I'll consider installing some software or other utils if and when I find they'll actually be useful.

 

[Bsigg12]

Here's the one I used as a rough guide, https://pcpartpicker.com/guide/nwKH99/great-gaming-build . I basically just used a slightly different motherboard, the R5 case (one of the quietest you can buy) and an i7 because I do quite a bit of editing. The comments section is also really good for finding out if there are other parts that are cheaper/better you could use instead

Thank you!

 

[scoobs]

is there any performance gain from having the OS on a separate drive to where the games are stored??

Not really, but as a general rule I've always kept my OS on a seperate SSD from everything else. Games have their own SSD, and media is on my HDDs

 

[kuYuri]

Hi guys, I need some help!

I've been video editing a whole lot on my 2011 Macbook Pro. And for heavier projects on my mom her 2011 iMac. But it's just not cutting it anymore. Trying to edit 4K footage is already on the edge of impossible. So I really need to step it up and get a new machine. Especially since I'm hoping to get a 5K raw camera somewhere next year.

I'm not going to get a iMac since that'll set me back 4K. And those new Macbooks are also too expensive. So I'm probably going to need to build a powerful desktop. But I have 0 knowledge on building a machine. I'd be willing to spend somewhere around 1K-2K to build some crazy ass editing system. Is that enough? If so, what should I get? I'm also considering going the Hackintosh route since it's nice to keep in the macOS realm and be able to work with my Macbook. Does that change things up?

Any advice would be stellar <3

Quick 4K editing build I made. Does not include price of Windows, keyboard, mouse, wireless network card, monitor, etc. This is a super solid 4K editing rig, but you can change some parts around as you see fit, like SSD, HDD, etc.

If you don't feel comfortable assembling a PC, you can shop at online retailers like Origin PC that will build PCs for you, just try to go for any Intel 6 core CPU like the i7 6800K since that will contribute the most to video editing.

Feel free to also fill out the survey in the OP so we can customize it according to your needs.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($439.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI X99A SLI PLUS ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($193.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($168.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($184.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Toshiba X300 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($136.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card ($418.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1838.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-31 23:54 EDT-0400

 

[mid83]

So I’ve never built a PC before. I’ve had laptops for the past decade that have served me well for both gaming and general PC use. That said, over the past year or two, my laptop has mostly spent time docked as a desk with an external monitor/keyboard/mouse. My portable computing is done on an iPad and soon on a new MBP that my wife has wanted for a long time, so it seems like I don’t have much use at all for a gaming laptop anymore. Therefore, I’m looking at my first PC build. I know there is tons of information out there, but I have a few questions that hopefully you guys can help with.

1.) Is there a general time that makes sense to upgrade, other than just when you need to? For example, at the beginning of the lifecycle of a new generation of Nvidia cards or Intel processors? I’m used to Apple’s upgrade cycle where everything is set in stone for the 12 or 18 months between product refreshes, so I typically look to upgrade when a product is brand new to get the most time out of it (that’s how I justify it). I’m sure that mindset doesn’t make sense here, but I wanted to check.

2.) How good of a PC can you get with a budget of around $1000-1200? I can go higher on budget if I need to, but I wouldn’t mind saving some money compared to what I’d pay for a laptop. How many years would that PC last me without struggling to run newer releases?

3.) Is newegg still the place of choice for buying PC parts?

I’m sure I’ll have many more questions down the line as I actually look to start building, but I’m just starting the planning phases right now. Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[NovaCross]

Are those new Nvidia 1050 TIs a significant upgrade from a Radeon 7950?

 

[Ashhong]

Unlikely. There are rumors that "little Vega" will replace the 480 and maybe 470 but I don't know if those had any substance. Vega is targeting the higher end market and will compete with the 1070 and up, no guarantees for anything lower than that.

8GB 480s have been as low as $200 after rebate. Not a bad option.

That just makes me think I should not buy the 480 and wait for a little vega. Would that be out anytime soon?

I would also consider a 1060 since from what I've seen those are more powerful. My only drawback is that freesync is much cheaper, but I don't realistically expect to upgrade my monitors anytime soon, but who knows..

Am I still ok with my 4670k? I haven't even overclocked it yet

 

[ColdDeckEd]

Are those new Nvidia 1050 TIs a significant upgrade from a Radeon 7950?

You'd be better off going for at least a 470 coming from a 7950, imo.

That just makes me think I should not buy the 480 and wait for a little vega. Would that be out anytime soon?

I would also consider a 1060 since from what I've seen those are more powerful. My only drawback is that freesync is much cheaper, but I don't realistically expect to upgrade my monitors anytime soon, but who knows..

Am I still ok with my 4670k? I haven't even overclocked it yet

Yeah you are still good with that cpu, get a decent cooler and overclock to 4.3 - 4.4. Anything above that requires a really good cooler and/or delidding the cpu which is not for the faint of heart.

About Vega, like chaos said it's going to be AMDs high end line with prices probably in the 400+ range. That sapphire 480 will be a very nice upgrade from your 270, or if you want to save a bit go for a 470 which will still be a very nice upgrade for you.

 

[Ashhong]

You'd be better off going for at least a 470 coming from a 7950, imo.




Yeah you are still good with that cpu, get a decent cooler and overclock to 4.3 - 4.4. Anything above that requires a really good cooler and/or delidding the cpu which is not for the faint of heart.

About Vega, like chaos said it's going to be AMDs high end line with prices probably in the 400+ range. That sapphire 480 will be a very nice upgrade from your 270, or if you want to save a bit go for a 470 which will still be a very nice upgrade for you.

Well chaos mentioned a "little vega" that would replace the 480, so I'm wondering if I should wait for that. It's going to be a gift from my girlfriend so the price range is ok. Just deciding on a 1060 vs 480 at this point, or waiting altogether.....

 

[Sickbean]

Completely torn about what type of monitor to get.

£400 gets me either a 1080p 144Hz GSYNC, or 4K IPS 60Hz.

What do I do? How does 1080p content look on a 4K monitor?

 

[chaosblade]

Well chaos mentioned a "little vega" that would replace the 480, so I'm wondering if I should wait for that. It's going to be a gift from my girlfriend so the price range is ok. Just deciding on a 1060 vs 480 at this point, or waiting altogether.....

Those are just rumors, I have no idea how much truth there is to that. It's just something I've read, personally I expect Vega 10 to compete with the 1070 and 1080 and probably be priced in the $350-$500 range. Then Vega 11 as a Fury type chip to compete with the 1080 Ti and Titan X.

 

[Hellgardia]

I would bet vega11 to be the lower part if polaris is anything to go by

 

[hooijdonk17]

Well chaos mentioned a "little vega" that would replace the 480, so I'm wondering if I should wait for that. It's going to be a gift from my girlfriend so the price range is ok. Just deciding on a 1060 vs 480 at this point, or waiting altogether.....

The 480 was an amazing bu for me at $199 for the 8GB version (4GB unlocked to 8GB) but with the current pricing and what appears to be significant further power efficiency gains for Vega and apparently a Vega 11 or matured 480 with higher clockspeeds to replace what we have (if you believe the rumours..) the 4GB 470 is the only card on the market that I feel deserves what it asks. Either get that or hold off, because the buyer's remorse will burn bad when AMD announce their Q1 lineup.

 

[the_milkybar_kid]

Completely torn about what type of monitor to get.

£400 gets me either a 1080p 144Hz GSYNC, or 4K IPS 60Hz.

What do I do? How does 1080p content look on a 4K monitor?

If you're prepared to look around and bide your time, you can get a better deal. I managed to get a 3 month old Asus pg278q delivered for £400. It's all about preference of course, but I decided to go 1440, 144Hz over 4k. I feel like 4k is too early to invest in yet.

 

[rac]

So for the last couple of weeks my pc has been randomly crashing, running perfectly fine and then all the sudden it would go to a random colored screen (light blue, green, red) and then I would reset it and it would boot up no problem and run normal again until another crash.

Well last night it crashed to a black screen while I was playing gwent and the fan speed went nuts, and then when I tried to reset the pc it went to a black screen with a line of white artifacts through the middle about two times then restarted fine.

This has to be a gpu issue right?

edit: btw on sunday night I played a few hours of dota 2 and it ran perfectly fine.

 

[hooijdonk17]

So for the last couple of weeks my pc has been randomly crashing, running perfectly fine and then all the sudden it would go to a random colored screen (light blue, green, red) and then I would reset it and it would boot up no problem and run normal again until another crash.

Well last night it crashed to a black screen while I was playing gwent and the fan speed went nuts, and then when I tried to reset the pc it went to a black screen with a line of white artifacts through the middle about two times then restarted fine.

This has to be a gpu issue right?

edit: btw on sunday night I played a few hours of dota 2 and it ran perfectly fine.

Some hardware and driver information would go a long way..

 

[rac]

Some hardware and driver information would go a long way..

Sorry about that:

MSI GeForce GTX 1060 DirectX 12 GTX 1060 GAMING X 6G 6GB 192-Bit GDDR5 HDCP Ready ATX Video Card

G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400

Intel Core i5-6500 6MB Skylake Quad-Core 3.2 GHz LGA 1151 65W

Corsair Carbide Series 100R

WD Blue 1TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM

GIGABYTE GA-B150M-D3H GSM

SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 250GB

I just updated to the latest nvidia drivers to try and help it, previously I used DDU to go back to an older driver to try and fix it.

edit: My plan is to do a memtest tonight.

 

[amardilo]

I've been looking at adding Bluetooth to my PC so I can connect some additional devices to it, however I don't want to stick USB dongles to the outside of my PC and I'd like to remove some other USB dongles (such as the Xbox One controller adaptor) from sticking outside of my PC. So I'd like something to put inside my PC case that would hold a few USB devices.

Has anyone used something like a NZXT IU01 (I've read some user reviews on Amazon that version 1.1 had issues but 2.0 seems OK)?

I have 2 USB 2.0 headers on my motherboard and both are in use, one is used for my cases front panel USB and the other is for the Corsair control panel thing used by my CPU AIO cooler. I'm planning on plugging in a NZXT IU01 to the second US2 2.0 and plugging my Corsair control panel thing into it along with some USB 2.0 dongles.

Would this work? I've had USB devices not work when Windows start and require unplugging and plugging back in is there a way around this?

 

[Thorgal]

TRULY Silent Workstation PC with zero fans, no pumps or water With ridiculous Cooling from Calyos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PJOrfpiVwE

#BelgianPride

 

[vector824]

So I’ve never built a PC before. I’ve had laptops for the past decade that have served me well for both gaming and general PC use. That said, over the past year or two, my laptop has mostly spent time docked as a desk with an external monitor/keyboard/mouse. My portable computing is done on an iPad and soon on a new MBP that my wife has wanted for a long time, so it seems like I don’t have much use at all for a gaming laptop anymore. Therefore, I’m looking at my first PC build. I know there is tons of information out there, but I have a few questions that hopefully you guys can help with.

1.) Is there a general time that makes sense to upgrade, other than just when you need to? For example, at the beginning of the lifecycle of a new generation of Nvidia cards or Intel processors? I’m used to Apple’s upgrade cycle where everything is set in stone for the 12 or 18 months between product refreshes, so I typically look to upgrade when a product is brand new to get the most time out of it (that’s how I justify it). I’m sure that mindset doesn’t make sense here, but I wanted to check.

2.) How good of a PC can you get with a budget of around $1000-1200? I can go higher on budget if I need to, but I wouldn’t mind saving some money compared to what I’d pay for a laptop. How many years would that PC last me without struggling to run newer releases?

3.) Is newegg still the place of choice for buying PC parts?

I’m sure I’ll have many more questions down the line as I actually look to start building, but I’m just starting the planning phases right now. Thanks for the help everyone!

1) New products come out all the time. We just had a major GPU refresh from NVIDIA and AMD this summer, but next year we're looking at newer cards again. Intel is releasing Kaby Lake and AMD the Zen processors early next year also. Samsung releases their 960 line of SSDs soon. So if you have some time waiting a few months to see what these processors can do might not be a bad idea.

2) $1200 can buy you a very capable PC for 1080 or 1440 resolution. 4k is still a little ways off for full spec at 60fps, 30fps is achievable. So, if you want to run 1080 or 1440 on Ultra, a pc TODAY should last 3-5 years. In a few months it could last even longer with the new refreshes coming out.

3) Newegg, Amazon are two of the biggest. I ordered everything for my rig from there.

Try pcpartpicker.com to mess around and get yourself familiar. Guys on here are more than happy to help you tweak it.

 

[Ashhong]

The 480 was an amazing bu for me at $199 for the 8GB version (4GB unlocked to 8GB) but with the current pricing and what appears to be significant further power efficiency gains for Vega and apparently a Vega 11 or matured 480 with higher clockspeeds to replace what we have (if you believe the rumours..) the 4GB 470 is the only card on the market that I feel deserves what it asks. Either get that or hold off, because the buyer's remorse will burn bad when AMD announce their Q1 lineup.

Nooooooo now I'm even more torn. What about the 1060, any foreseeable buyers remorse?

 

[ColdDeckEd]

Well chaos mentioned a "little vega" that would replace the 480, so I'm wondering if I should wait for that. It's going to be a gift from my girlfriend so the price range is ok. Just deciding on a 1060 vs 480 at this point, or waiting altogether.....

I wouldn't expect little vega to cost less than 400, putting it far outside the tier 480/1060 are in. To put it in terms of their current lineup, little vega would be as fury, as big vega is to fury x, imo. Also you are looking at a January reveal with maybe a month or two delay in availability, so probably 4 months at least until you are able to buy one.

If you girlfriend is willing to buy you a card that costs 400ish, you could consider the 1070 it would be an awesome upgrade from a 270.

 

[Ashhong]

I wouldn't expect little vega to cost less than 400, putting it far outside the tier 480/1060 are in. To put it in terms of their current lineup, little vega would be as fury, as big vega is to fury x, imo. Also you are looking at a January reveal with maybe a month or two delay in availability, so probably 4 months at least until you are able to buy one.

If you girlfriend is willing to buy you a card that costs 400ish, you could consider the 1070 it would be an awesome upgrade from a 270.

I wouldn't mind putting in extra money to get something better if necessary, but I don't think I would play enough PC games to justify such a card. So right now it's 480/1060 but 1070 is definitely an option. Seems like the 480 is the more popular pick though?

 

[Veritigo_X]

Has anyone who ordered a 960 Pro/Evo from Samsung received any updates? I ended up contacting them and they said due to high demand they can no longer provide an ETA for my order :/

 

[shanafan]

I often hear PC gamers say that they play games at 1440p. Does this mean they have a 1440p monitor? If they do not, then what would be the advantage of playing at 1440p on a 1080p monitor?

 

[JonnyDBrit]

I often hear PC gamers say that they play games at 1440p. Does this mean they have a 1440p monitor? If they do not, then what would be the advantage of playing at 1440p on a 1080p monitor?

Yes, that's what it means. 1440p monitors are available consumer products, particularly favoured by the PC crowd.

 

[Lichter]

I often hear PC gamers say that they play games at 1440p. Does this mean they have a 1440p monitor? If they do not, then what would be the advantage of playing at 1440p on a 1080p monitor?

Having much less aliasing, this technique is called downsampling I think.

 

[TGMIII]

Something I've always wondered since a 1440p/144hz screen is next on my list.

How do games at 1080p look on a 1440p screen, any noticeable blur or general downsides. Not that I'm planning on playing much at 1080p but it's always something I've not really known about.