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

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So, reposting for this new thread...

I need a really low power, CHEAP & cool

MBO
CPU
cooler

combination to replace the VERY OLD Athlon 64 x2 5400+ in my current file server.

Is Celeron still a thing? Pentium? Any recommendation would be welcome (CPU + chipset combo). Cooler I assume Hyper 212 Evo is quiet and power efficient enough?
I'm stressing the power efficiency because the file server is on like 6/7 days of the week.
 

ACE 1991

Member
So as I posted a few pages back, I got a CMOS BATTERY FAILED error last night and am going to pick up a new battery this evening. Am I correct in thinking that all my BIOS settings will be reverted to their default states when I replace the battery?
 
Ok I have a newb question for you guys.

My motherboard is a Asus P8Z77V -LK. I want to purchase a GTX 1080 a new monitor to game at 1440p. I was reading at the specs of my MOBO and I found this:

Integrated Graphics Processor
Multi-VGA output support : HDMI/DVI/RGB/DisplayPort ports
- Supports HDMI with max. resolution 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
- Supports DVI with max. resolution 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
- Supports RGB with max. resolution 2048 x 1536 @ 75 Hz
- Supports DisplayPort with max. resolution 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz
Maximum shared memory of 1696 MB
Supports Intel® HD Graphics

Does that mean that the only way I can game at 1440p with that MOBO is if I'm using DisplayPort so I have to make sure the moniter I'd wanna get has to have that option?

And on a more general question, would I be limited in performance by this motherboard for a gtx1080 because of its age or is it still considered "recent" (relatively speaking) and I wouldn't notice a thing?

I want 60fps
 
I run a 1440p ultrawide with a 3570k overclocked to 4GHz (motherboard won't let me go any higher), and a 970 OC. I can't max games out but I can usually run them pretty well at 30fps with high settings, or 60fps at lower settings - or run them at 2560x1080 scaled up if needed.

CPU should be fine for a while yet - can do a replacement in 12-18 months. Maybe by then AMD will have 6-8 core Zens out and Intel will lower prices so more cores become more available at normal price points.

What monitor are you using?
 

diablos991

Can’t stump the diablos
Ok I have a newb question for you guys.

My motherboard is a Asus P8Z77V -LK. I want to purchase a GTX 1080 a new monitor to game at 1440p. I was reading at the specs of my MOBO and I found this:

Integrated Graphics Processor
Multi-VGA output support : HDMI/DVI/RGB/DisplayPort ports
- Supports HDMI with max. resolution 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
- Supports DVI with max. resolution 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
- Supports RGB with max. resolution 2048 x 1536 @ 75 Hz
- Supports DisplayPort with max. resolution 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz
Maximum shared memory of 1696 MB
Supports Intel® HD Graphics

Does that mean that the only way I can game at 1440p with that MOBO is if I'm using DisplayPort so I have to make sure the moniter I'd wanna get has to have that option?

And on a more general question, would I be limited in performance by this motherboard for a gtx1080 because of its age or is it still considered "recent" (relatively speaking) and I wouldn't notice a thing?

I want 60fps

Those specs are for the onboard video which you won't be using if you have a discreet graphics card.

You should go for display port regardless on a new monitor since it's a fantastic standard and actually required for most Gsync monitors.
 

Dave_6

Member
I run a 1440p ultrawide with a 3570k overclocked to 4GHz (motherboard won't let me go any higher), and a 970 OC. I can't max games out but I can usually run them pretty well at 30fps with high settings, or 60fps at lower settings - or run them at 2560x1080 scaled up if needed.

CPU should be fine for a while yet - can do a replacement in 12-18 months. Maybe by then AMD will have 6-8 core Zens out and Intel will lower prices so more cores become more available at normal price points.

Ok, will wait on upgrading the CPU. Guess I can go ahead and at least bump up to 16GB of RAM though. I'll just have to replace what I have since the Samsung stuff is long discontinued and I don't really want to mix and match.
 

teiresias

Member
Finally bit the bullet and ordered the parts for my TV Room Gaming PC. It will be my first mITX build:

Case: Silverstone RVZ02
PSU: Corsair SF600 SFX
Heatsink: Scythe SCBSK-2100 BIG Shuriken 2
CPU: i7 6700k
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR4 2400 MT/s (PC4-19200)
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo M.2

For the GPU I'll be taking my 980 out of desktop and moving it to the ITX build and putting my old 680 in my desktop that's been collecting dust. When the 1080s are more plentiful I may move the 980 back to the desktop and put the 1080 in the itx since it will likely get put on a 4k or Vive sooner than the desktop PC will.

I just realized I don't have enough HDMI inputs on my audio receiver to keep everything hooked up. Ugh!!!
 
Those specs are for the onboard video which you won't be using if you have a discreet graphics card.

You should go for display port regardless on a new monitor since it's a fantastic standard and actually required for most Gsync monitors.

Thank you very much!

So basically, as long as you have the required slot on your motherboard, you can put in whatever card you want without worrying? (I know there are pci-e 2.0 and 3.0 but I'm not well informed about the differences but I assume one is faster than the other.)
 
AOC u3477Pqu. Went for it because it has built in speakers (which I wanted for Apple TV and Playstation TV feeding in through HDMI), and a fairly adjustable stand (can adjust height and even pivot)

You like it? I only ask because I am trying to figure out whether or not to grab another X34 or go with a non G-Sync widescreen. The difference did $600, but if the quality is that much better I will. Not many people seem to have widescreen around here.
 
Hey guys, just something quick. My friend is finally upgrading his processor from a 6 year old AMD six core 6300 to an AMD Bulldozer FX-9590 Eight Core 4.7Ghz CPU. It doesnt come with a heatsink and fan so he's also buying a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO and some thermal paste.

He should be good to go after that right? He recently bought a new motherboard which supports AM3+, so I believe thats all he needs.

Any tips as well for installing it himself?
 

paskowitz

Member
Hey guys, just something quick. My friend is finally upgrading his processor from a 6 year old AMD six core 6300 to an AMD Bulldozer FX-9590 Eight Core 4.7Ghz CPU. It doesnt come with a heatsink and fan so he's also buying a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO and some thermal paste.

He should be good to go after that right? He recently bought a new motherboard which supports AM3+, so I believe thats all he needs.

Any tips as well for installing it himself?

Install the mounting bracket and CPU heatsink BEFORE you install the mobo in the motherboard.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
You like it? I only ask because I am trying to figure out whether or not to grab another X34 or go with a non G-Sync widescreen. The difference did $600, but if the quality is that much better I will. Not many people seem to have widescreen around here.

Everyone raves about Gsync but the price was just insane. I'm very happy with an 'ordinary' monitor and the usable space is fantastic. The difference in price would almost buy you a 1080 :)
 

bananas

Banned
Everything arrived today! Yay! Gonna have a new PC with a i5-6600k, 16GB DDR4 RAM and... my existing GTX 670 while I wait for the 1080/1070 to come out. 😅
 
Everyone raves about Gsync but the price was just insane. I'm very happy with an 'ordinary' monitor and the usable space is fantastic. The difference in price would almost buy you a 1080 :)

I may have to grab that one. I made an insane jump in going from standard 1080p/60 to 3440x1440 100hz G-Sync. I never really noticed frames even with my FPS always shown. I plan in building a completely new rig in the next week or so. I currently run an x34 with a 970 because I won the monitor.
 

GlamFM

Banned
Does this look fine to you?

Everything working as it should?

VDEvwea.jpg
 
oooh. So he has to take out the motherboard from the case, install the cpu and heatsink, then put it all back in?

It depends on the case. Newer cases have a cutout for the motherboard around the CPU socket so you can mount the heatsink bracket after you put it into the case.
 

wowzors

Member
Anybody install a h110i gtx into a r5? Online it sounds like installing it on the top that there isn't enough room to keep the stock fan that's attached to the back.

Installing on the front sounds like you have to removed the hdd cages, which isn't really a huge deal for me, but I think I'd prefer top air as the front door is always shut.
 

Raxanas

Neo Member
Anybody install a h110i gtx into a r5? Online it sounds like installing it on the top that there isn't enough room to keep the stock fan that's attached to the back.

Installing on the front sounds like you have to removed the hdd cages, which isn't really a huge deal for me, but I think I'd prefer top air as the front door is always shut.

Everywhere i searched gave me the same result.The only way might be installing the fans outside of the case on top.Otherwise mounting in front in push aint bad but might be a bit ugly.Removing the hdd cage should be easy
 

JayDub

Member
This wasn't answered in the last thread: I was wondering if there was a reason mobos don't auto detect the speed of the ram. Why do we still have to manually set it in BIOS, in 2016?
 

LilJoka

Member
This wasn't answered in the last thread: I was wondering if there was a reason mobos don't auto detect the speed of the ram. Why do we still have to manually set it in BIOS, in 2016?

Because the Intel CPU supports specific RAM speeds.
When you enable XMP you overclock the RAM from the JEDEC standards (2133Mhz for DDR4) to the XMP speeds. This also overclocks the Intel Memory Controller built into the CPU, and of course this is out of spec for what Intel tested the reliable running of the CPU.

So if we enabled XMP by default you'd have people complaining their system will not boot!

XMP speeds are not guaranteed to work - This needs to made clear.

If the CPU IMC cannot run those XMP RAM speeds itll fail to boot.

This is 2016 - People should not be afraid of UEFI - Its made all pretty for this, a simple drop down box to enable XMP is all thats required. XMP in itself is a simplification of RAM overclocking - something i dont recommend really.
 

Raxanas

Neo Member
Question about gsync. Do games need to support sync in order for you to use it? Would I be able to play TF2 at 144hz?

As far as i know as long as u enable it from Screen settings and nvidia panel u dont need to do anything via game settings.It is supposed to work everywhere.Bear in mind though that u need a beefy GPU generally to get 144+ frames
 
More of an issue with SSDs. I had a string of 4 SSD failures in a short period of time and the only thing they had in common was no battery backup, a few emails to a Crucial engineer and checking the SMART data of the drives I RMA'd and could try to get information off of and looked like a 'UNEXPECTED POWER LOSS' cause for corruption. Even the SSDs that used to have capacitors in them to help prevent some of these issues are still vulnerable.

We don't install SSDs in desktop without a battery backup now for our clients.

What do I need to be safe? By battery backup, does that mean a full on UPS with enough power to let my computer shutdown 100% cleanly?
 

yamo

Member
Thanks Roadrunn3r and Hazaro for the help in the last thread regarding the I3 cpu.
Now a question regarding memory clock frequency and motherboards!

The budget build recommends the GIGABYTE GA-B150M-DS3H and 2x4GB (8GB) DDR4 2400. But when I look at Gigabytes product page it says the following.

http://test.global.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5640#sp
4 x DDR4 DIMM sockets supporting up to 64 GB of system memory
* Due to a Windows 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than the size of the physical memory installed.
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR4 2133 MHz memory modules
Support for ECC UDIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8 memory modules (operate in non-ECC mode)
Support for non-ECC UDIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8/1Rx16 memory modules

(Please refer "Memory Support List" for more information.)

Can the motherboard really handle 2400 MHz memory modules?
 
As far as i know as long as u enable it from Screen settings and nvidia panel u dont need to do anything via game settings.It is supposed to work everywhere.Bear in mind though that u need a beefy GPU generally to get 144+ frames


Ok. Are there any 24inch IPS gsync monitors? I'm having trouble finding one.
 

Raxanas

Neo Member
Thanks Roadrunn3r and Hazaro for the help in the last thread regarding the I3 cpu.
Now a question regarding memory clock frequency and motherboards!

The budget build recommends the GIGABYTE GA-B150M-DS3H and 2x4GB (8GB) DDR4 2400. But when I look at Gigabytes product page it says the following.

http://test.global.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5640#sp


Can the motherboard really handle 2400 MHz memory modules?

2400 mhz memory will downclock to 2133 if MB does not support.But u can also get
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmk8gx4m2a2133c13r just to be safe





Ok. Are there any 24inch IPS gsync monitors? I'm having trouble finding one.

Nope.There are only TN panels for 1080p.Most IPS ones are 27inches 1440p with horrible QC right now
 
I see, thank you!

Yea you would need a Z170 board for higher than 2133. Don't worry much about it though, it's a budget build. The difference between that and DDR4 3000 is there but not that much, consider that a lot of us are still on Haswell DDR3 1600 and still doing fine.
 
I accidentally found that Roche-Bobois site and they have nice pieces, but gotdayum! That is beyond expensive.

When I went to their store to actually see the darn thing they were pretty to the point: These desks aren't cheap because it comes with a plethora of bells and whistles: Hand made to your liking and a designer will come to your home and look what could be done to maximize your purchase.

Crazy, but I know the desk I'll buy if I win the lottery.
 

LilJoka

Member
More of an issue with SSDs. I had a string of 4 SSD failures in a short period of time and the only thing they had in common was no battery backup, a few emails to a Crucial engineer and checking the SMART data of the drives I RMA'd and could try to get information off of and looked like a 'UNEXPECTED POWER LOSS' cause for corruption. Even the SSDs that used to have capacitors in them to help prevent some of these issues are still vulnerable.

Were all the SSDs from crucial? I distinctly remember crucial SSDs having this issue on the M4 range especially.
 

vewn

Member
With the release of 1080 benchmarks I started considering upgrading anything.
I have a 980 (at 1500 MHz) and an i7 2700K (at 4400 MHz) so the first and most logical idea was a second 980, but after receiving a broken one I might leave the rig as it is and wait for big Pascal. I don't really do much 3D rendering or videos currently so I figured upgrading to 2011 platform isn't the most useful thing to do right now but I have a 144Hz monitor so more horsepower is always welcome.
 
With the release of 1080 benchmarks I started considering upgrading anything.
I have a 980 (at 1500 MHz) and an i7 2700K (at 4400 MHz) so the first and most logical idea was a second 980, but after receiving a broken one I might leave the rig as it is and wait for big Pascal. I don't really do much 3D rendering or videos currently so I figured upgrading to 2011 platform isn't the most useful thing to do right now but I have a 144Hz monitor so more horsepower is always welcome.

I would consider a 6700K in your case (144hz) and overclocking it cause often getting those high frames is not possible on the graphics card alone. A Skylake build along with high clocked DDR4 should give you a noticeable jump in CPU heavy games. It's not a cheap upgrade though so that is up to you.
 

RGM79

Member
Newb question here, I'm building a new PC using my old HDD that has Windows 7, do I need to purchase a new Windows license since I don't have a license key or disc?
Dp0po you still have your old PC on hand? Or perhaps another PC that you can temporarily connect the hard drive to? There are very simple programs that can read the hard drive and display the key associated with the Windows installation on it.

You may not need to buy a new copy of Windows. As long as you have the license key and it's a retail version of Windows, you can probably contact Microsoft and they will help you activate Windows on the new PC.
 

Dmax3901

Member
Recently attached an Arctic Xtreme IV to my R9 290 GPU. Had to leave the black heatsink off the top as it would'n't fit otherwise.

Things have been going well temp and performance wise, but I've noticed some of the blue thermal pads have dropped down off the GPU onto the heatsink of the cooler itself.

How bad is this?
 

Dalius

Member
Hey PCGaf. I could use some advice. I recently moved my PC to a new case (from a CM HAF X to a Fractal Refine R5) and I'm afraid I did a bad job and that now I'm melting my video card.

I had my PC built in the shop I bought it from & haven't build anything in nearly a decade, so it probably wasn't a good idea to do it myself. I did it anyway. I thought I did an okay job, but I had trouble with the modular power cables coming out of the PSU - they were thick and the other side of the case didn't leave much room left for bundling them up in the middle.

A few days ago, my GTX 970 just died - it got power and the fans were spinning when on, but no video signal was coming through. I tried different PCIe slots, CMOS reset, using different ports on the GPU, different HDMI/DVI cables, different monitors - nothing. I'm now using my old GTX 580. I booted up Overwatch and noticed my PC was unusually loud - the GPU fan was on full blast. Checked the temps - the GPU was running at 91C. -_-.

So now I'm afraid I may have killed my other card via heat death, and my current card might be next.

Could this be a result of shitty cabling? I took some pictures of it: http://imgur.com/a/t7Xhk

Here are my questions:

1) Did I most likely kill my GTX 970? I have an RMA ticket open to send it in for repair as it's still under warranty
2) 90C is way too high for Overwatch, right? What am I doing wrong? Is it my cabling? How do I properly manage those power cables?
3) I'm only making use of the two stock fans that came with the case. They are plugging into the case's fan controller (it has a switch on the front), not the motherboard. Is this bad?
4) Would buying more fans help?

I'm pretty much a newb when it comes to cooling and fans (and keeping GPUs alive), so any advice would be appreciated.
 

ekgrey

Member
Welp, I'm thinking about an upgrade. I built my PC the summer before last with the help of this thread and now I'm back to bug y'all beautiful people again.

So my rig is almost two years old now. Generally still rocking but I'm thinking about saving up for a 144Hz and/or 1440p monitor.

I've got a 4670k at 4.0GHz and a stock ASUS 970 with 16GB of DDR3 at 1600MHz.

Would the jump to Skylake and DDR4 be helpful at a higher resolution or frame rate? My other question is about DX12 and some newer titles. I know that basically nobody gets decent frames with Rise of the Tomb Raider and Quantum Break but is there any reason to think that Pascal will be better than Maxwell here? My understanding is that AMD cards did better in both of these and a lot of people thought it was because Maxwell wasn't well-suited for DX12. Any truth to this?

I'm just frustrated with having to lock games to 30FPS because without G-SYNC the drops are just too much to handle. It's doubly annoying because Doom runs with everything on ultra and never drops below ~57, and spends most of the time above 80 (which I can't take advantage of at the moment, but the smooth 60 is still awesome.) I know that there will always be shitty ports and that future proofing is nonsense, but I can't help but feel that something in my system is holding me back. The slow RAM? The 3.5GB of VRAM? Help me PCGAF, you're my only hope!
 

Renekton

Member
I've got a 4670k at 4.0GHz and a stock ASUS 970 with 16GB of DDR3 at 1600MHz.

Would the jump to Skylake and DDR4 be helpful at a higher resolution or frame rate? My other question is about DX12 and some newer titles. I know that basically nobody gets decent frames with Rise of the Tomb Raider and Quantum Break but is there any reason to think that Pascal will be better than Maxwell here? My understanding is that AMD cards did better in both of these and a lot of people thought it was because Maxwell wasn't well-suited for DX12. Any truth to this?

I'm just frustrated with having to lock games to 30FPS because without G-SYNC the drops are just too much to handle. It's doubly annoying because Doom runs with everything on ultra and never drops below ~57, and spends most of the time above 80 (which I can't take advantage of at the moment, but the smooth 60 is still awesome.) I know that there will always be shitty ports and that future proofing is nonsense, but I can't help but feel that something in my system is holding me back. The slow RAM? The 3.5GB of VRAM? Help me PCGAF, you're my only hope!
I think RoTR and QB are special cases, don't jump the gun just for these two games.

You might get a decent performance boost if you simply upgrade the memory speeds, while keeping an eye out for the upcoming 1070.
 
Welp, I'm thinking about an upgrade. I built my PC the summer before last with the help of this thread and now I'm back to bug y'all beautiful people again.

So my rig is almost two years old now. Generally still rocking but I'm thinking about saving up for a 144Hz and/or 1440p monitor.

I've got a 4670k at 4.0GHz and a stock ASUS 970 with 16GB of DDR3 at 1600MHz.

Would the jump to Skylake and DDR4 be helpful at a higher resolution or frame rate? My other question is about DX12 and some newer titles. I know that basically nobody gets decent frames with Rise of the Tomb Raider and Quantum Break but is there any reason to think that Pascal will be better than Maxwell here? My understanding is that AMD cards did better in both of these and a lot of people thought it was because Maxwell wasn't well-suited for DX12. Any truth to this?

I'm just frustrated with having to lock games to 30FPS because without G-SYNC the drops are just too much to handle. It's doubly annoying because Doom runs with everything on ultra and never drops below ~57, and spends most of the time above 80 (which I can't take advantage of at the moment, but the smooth 60 is still awesome.) I know that there will always be shitty ports and that future proofing is nonsense, but I can't help but feel that something in my system is holding me back. The slow RAM? The 3.5GB of VRAM? Help me PCGAF, you're my only hope!

If you're having to bring it down to 30 then I would suggest lowering your settings some. Also, your CPU is quite good, and the ram is a relatively minor point when compared to your GPU. The biggest boost would be found by upgrading to a faster video card, maybe see how things shake out with the 1070?
 

ekgrey

Member
As in, just getting faster DDR3? Hmm. It goes up to what, 2400MHz stock?

edit: yeah, I ran RotTR on a mix of high and medium and locked it to 30 with Nvidia Inspector. And I know QB is an outlier but man it is frustrating.

And yes, I am definitely keeping a close eye on 1070 news, as well as the used 980 Ti market. My plan was just a GPU upgrade this summer, but I now have a friend who's considering building a PC and would be happy to buy some parts off me, potentially enabling a bigger upgrade. I figured I'd solicit some opinions and as always appreciate everyone's help.
 

Renekton

Member
On a slightly unrelated note, Techspot did a memory performance test and concluded that memory speed has appreciable performance improvement for higher end configs.


Since Techspot used 980Ti SLI, we might think this applies only to bleeding Smokey edge. A Digital Foundry article showed that even venerable 2500K with a single Titan X can benefit from this. I assume 980Ti applies as well.

For the gentlemen in performance threads with rigs decked out in 980Ti, SSD and newer i7 but still rocking DDR-1600 memory: When a game doesn't perform up to expectations, check the bottlenecks. New Skylake buyers could try aim above the standard 2133.
 
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