So got to go to a LAN yesterday, and took part in a case build competition (2 people transfer their old computer into a new case that you get to keep. fastest person gets additional gear as a prize)
due to screws being stuck in the risers and other things, I lost by mere seconds
But I got a new case! When finishing up after the comeptition, pretty sure I fried the motherboard. I was rough on the hardware in the contest, knowing I am literally buying new hardware tonight. But I wanted to run the build by you guys to see what you thought.
ASRock Z75 Pro3 i5 3570k
and either 8gigs ram at ~50 or 16gigs at ~80 dollars. I am on bit of a budget, but I can budge 100-200$ if its worth bang for the buck. I only need mobo/ram/processor in the new build.
So, I've been having some weird issues with my video card; they occur across multiple games, and have happened with multiple monitors, and several different driver updates; it involves a couple of different things, which I don't really know how to Google, because I don't know what the fuck to call them. The first artifact is, like, "stretching" of certain parts of dudes. Certain parts of guys will stretch out into huge, elongated spikes, sometimes big enough to go across the entire screen. The second tends to happen on certain pieces of landscape, which just seem to flash back and forth between different colors, and get really weird shading to them. In the below screenshot, the "spikes" are circled in red, while the background issues are circled in blue:
These are relatively mild examples. I've seen this sort of thing in ME3, League of Legends, Fallout: New Vegas, and Guild Wars 2, among other games. Every so often, I will reseat my video card, and sometimes that makes them go away for awhile, but they always come back. Anyone have any advice? Is my video card just completely borked?
Download SpeedFan, run a game and monitor your GPU temperature.
Ooh excitement!!! I installed my SSD and put Windows 8 on it to give it a whirl. It boots in seconds!! And this is on SATA 3Gb/s...can't wait until I get my SATA 6Gb/s motherboard.
Well I am going ahead with the build above. I need to order this stuff overnight, anyone have recomendations on if amazon is a bad idea? I have prime and the overnight is cheaper then newegg and the parts are the same price.
So my laptop is now overheating if I play pretty much any game (cause is GPU). Given that it's four years old at this point I'm thinking that I stop using it as my gaming computer and convert this leftover desktop I have from 5 years ago into a gaming desktop.
I don't really know anything about building PC's or good graphics cards aside from what I've gleaned from a few posts and the OP. On NCIX prices for the EVGA GeForce GTX 560 and GTX550 seem reasonable. I want to keep my costs below 500 CAD so I'm worried about the $200 i5 processors presenting itself as a problem. The other components are all over a half-decade old so I'm weighing whether it's worth it to just replace everything down to the MoBo and power supply. Specs currently are a Pentium 4 2.40 ghz processor, Nvidia GeForce 6600 and 1GB RAM so it's really outdated.
I really only want to play today's and tomorrow's games at medium to low settings so some help would be appreciated.
EDIT: I also haven't considered my place in the "Ever-War". Would it help to list the type of games I want to play before choosing ATI or Nvidia? I shold also mention that I will have help when putting the desktop together, so I don't really need so much help with that.
To be fair and up front, I am an NVIDIA fanboy. But even so I would say the branding on the game for their manu really doesnt matter. Sometimes devs will make games more optimized for one hardware set over another, but there would be bloody hell raised if there was a giant discrepency. Now personally, I've never had anything but issues with ATI, and then again nothing but problems with their drivers. I hear the drivers issue is years old and not a "thing" anymore. Although probably 10 year old problem, I have two seperate games generations apart actually tell me that they will not run because an ATI card was installed, and I have never had that issue with NVIDIA. The important thing to look at, is to see who is doing better on the current line of cards you are looking at. It's real easy for one to pull ahead of the other depending on the gen and model of the card.
So I picked up an Asus 670 DCU TOP and this thing is just fucking magical
I went from xfired 6870s and now I'm playing everything maxed with post processing effects coming out the wahzoo which, to be fair, was about what my 6870s were pushing out. The difference is I have no microstutter and other weird problems you associate with xfire (for reference I tested BF3, ME3, Civ V, Mount & Blade Warband, Day Z, AssBro, TW:Shogun, Saints Row 3 and some synth benchmarks).
Don't get me wrong, xfired 6870s were very nice and they're $150 or so cheaper than the 670 but that 150 extra just took my gaming experience from fuck-awesome to flawless
Oh yeah and it was made all the sweeter because I had originally planned to get the cheaper MSi card, but the shop accidently sold my reserved one. The sold me the Asus card for $40 less as it was the only comparable card in the shop :P
So my laptop is now overheating if I play pretty much any game (cause is GPU). Given that it's four years old at this point I'm thinking that I stop using it as my gaming computer and convert this leftover desktop I have from 5 years ago into a gaming desktop.
I don't really know anything about building PC's or good graphics cards aside from what I've gleaned from a few posts and the OP. On NCIX prices for the EVGA GeForce GTX 560 and GTX550 seem reasonable. I want to keep my costs below 500 CAD so I'm worried about the $200 i5 processors presenting itself as a problem. The other components are all over a half-decade old so I'm weighing whether it's worth it to just replace everything down to the MoBo and power supply. Specs currently are a Pentium 4 2.40 ghz processor, Nvidia GeForce 6600 and 1GB RAM so it's really outdated.
I really only want to play today's and tomorrow's games at medium to low settings so some help would be appreciated.
EDIT: I also haven't considered my place in the "Ever-War". Would it help to list the type of games I want to play before choosing ATI or Nvidia? I shold also mention that I will have help when putting the desktop together, so I don't really need so much help with that.
So my laptop is now overheating if I play pretty much any game (cause is GPU). Given that it's four years old at this point I'm thinking that I stop using it as my gaming computer and convert this leftover desktop I have from 5 years ago into a gaming desktop.
I don't really know anything about building PC's or good graphics cards aside from what I've gleaned from a few posts and the OP. On NCIX prices for the EVGA GeForce GTX 560 and GTX550 seem reasonable. I want to keep my costs below 500 CAD so I'm worried about the $200 i5 processors presenting itself as a problem. The other components are all over a half-decade old so I'm weighing whether it's worth it to just replace everything down to the MoBo and power supply. Specs currently are a Pentium 4 2.40 ghz processor, Nvidia GeForce 6600 and 1GB RAM so it's really outdated.
I really only want to play today's and tomorrow's games at medium to low settings so some help would be appreciated.
EDIT: I also haven't considered my place in the "Ever-War". Would it help to list the type of games I want to play before choosing ATI or Nvidia? I shold also mention that I will have help when putting the desktop together, so I don't really need so much help with that.
Yeah I'm hoping the power supply and HDD don't have to be replaced. I haven't opened it up yet (going to wait until my friend can help me) because I have no expertise with building computers so I'm not really sure if the other stuff is in good condition or appropriate for the suggested build. Also, do you think the Ivy Bridge i3 is enough for most games? I can't find too many reviews of it due to how new it is.
I think my choice between Nvidia and ATI will be determined by whatever sales are going around the time I think.
Different kind of build.
4 cores, but they're 10% slower* than the i3-3220.
MB has no CF/SLI capability.
Sorry for the image link, NCIX site is unfamiliar to me, also totals don't reflect $55 in MIR for SSD and GPU.
Hello PAers. I'm here for some guidance on buying a new PC, as I know next to nothing about hardware. I don't trust salespeople to be honest with regards to stock machines, but looking at sites like Newegg has just left me mystified because I have no clue what most of the specs mean or do.
Following the guidelines in the OP; I'm looking for a desktop primarily for playing games, nothing I do with regards to work or school will be more taxing that that, something that can run Starcraft II, DotA 2 and similar games at respectable graphics. I can spend up to 1500 USD for tower, monitor, and keyboard, but of course less is always better. I don't know enough about manufacturers to have a preference and I don't have any special needs as far as I know.
BenQ XL2420T Most expensive choice, 1920x1080 but good quality and 120Hz
Dell UltraSharp U2412M Crowd favourite. A really nice panel with good angles and I quite like 16:10 aspect. 60Hz refresh is the negative here but it's cheapest on the list
Asus VG236HE The cheaper 120Hz option. Slightly smaller screen, but that's not a deal breaker really.
ACHIEVA Shimian QH270 This is my Korean 27" 2560x1440 option. Fucking cheap and huge. Cons being quality isn't assured and an RMA would be a huge pain in the arse (the other monitors I can pick up locally). Going sight unseen on that kind of resolution makes me nervous. i would love to have a play with one to make sure I like how it plays with my 670
Different kind of build.
4 cores, but they're 10% slower* than the i3-3220.
MB has no CF/SLI capability.
Sorry for the image link, NCIX site is unfamiliar to me, also totals don't reflect $55 in MIR for SSD and GPU.
*Edit: clocks. i5-2320 is SNB not IVB.
How common is it for a game to support four cores? Not sure if I want a SSD right now though, I'm thinking of going with something like this. I might decide to drop some extra money to get a MoBo capable of SLI/CF to futureproof it a bit. Thanks for the help!
@Tef if you have the card to support it I'm with Alecthar that 1440p is the way to go. I'd personally go for one of the more expensive Korean displays that has multiple inputs, an osd, has the holes for a VESA mount for a better stand, and would look for a seller that has the pay a bit more to guarantee no dead pixels. I've looked into buying one myself but I don't have the money right now because I need a TV before I need to replace/upgrade my HP LP2475w, but this article might be of some to use to you and others trying to pick from the multitude of different Korean 1440p's http://www.swiftworld.net/2012/04/14/budget-korean-27-ips-monitor-information-and-comparison-of-the-different-brands-and-models/
Yeah I hear what you're saying there Cormac. I may well go with a more expensive one for the pixel guarantee, those other features really don't matter to me (I'll be connecting via DVI-D, I don't care about stand aesthetics/I can make up another stand if the stock one shits itself) though an OSD would be nice I guess
What does a monitor OSD even look like? How does it differ from the normal push through menu button, push the up/down buttons on the monitor to change brightness and stuff.
Are there monitors that can't do that? I don't think I've ever seen a monitor that doesn't have a OSD. Unless OSD doesn't stand for onscreen display.
Onscreen display is the catchall term for any settings that display on the monitor, including with push buttons and stuff.
There are quite a few monitors and TVs that don't have OSDs. There's communities of people who look at OSDs as unnecessary/not grabular enough/a resource hog
Onscreen display is the catchall term for any settings that display on the monitor, including with push buttons and stuff.
There are quite a few monitors and TVs that don't have OSDs. There's communities of people who look at OSDs as unnecessary/not grabular enough/a resource hog
Wait, then how do you adjust stuff like RGB settings and brightness and stuff? I don't think I've ever owned a monitor that didn't have an OSD.
minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
We'd be in if we hadn't all already bought some ourselves, I'm sure.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
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kaliyamaLeft to find less-moderated foraRegistered Userregular
I don't think there's a better option than the ultrasharp/apple cinema display IPS panels. Getting huge real estate cheap with a cheap panel doesn't make any sense to me.
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
I don't think there's a better option than the ultrasharp/apple cinema display IPS panels. Getting huge real estate cheap with a cheap panel doesn't make any sense to me.
The panels in cheap Korean monitors and Apple Cinema displays and basically every other 27'' IPS 1440p display are all made by LG. The cheap Korean versions have less impressive feature-sets (OSD, connectivity, etc.) the warranty (if it has one you can use) is a bitch to process, because Korea, and they aren't factory calibrated at all. My understanding is that the panels in the Korean monitors may also be binned at a slightly lower level than a panel used by Dell or Apple. Though, once again, you're generally paying less than half of what one of those monitors would cost.
I don't think they're the best option for everyone, and paying more does get you more value, like Thunderbolt if you go through Apple, or factory calibration, an OSD and a USB hub (among other things) from Dell. I myself own a bigass Dell Ultrasharp. Still, for gaming and general usage, that screen real estate and the quality of an IPS screen at such a low price is pretty compelling, and from the experiences people have been talking about here, it seems like you do get that.
We'd be in if we hadn't all already bought some ourselves, I'm sure.
Give me a bit, I can't disrupt the "Alecthar's Latest Needless Expenditure" fund. Now that RAID 0 has TRIM on Z77 boards, I'm feeling an Ivy Bridge build with 1TB of Solid State storage coming on.
How common is it for a game to support four cores? Not sure if I want a SSD right now though, I'm thinking of going with something like this. I might decide to drop some extra money to get a MoBo capable of SLI/CF to futureproof it a bit. Thanks for the help!
Toms Hardware did a fine analysis of 20 games comparing multiple core scaling. My google-fu fails me, but the results were: "trending to 3 cores". Problem is the study was 2 years ago and not sure if game developers have moved towards taking advantage of more than 2 cores. Could be they have, could be they are targeting lower power platforms or existing installbase. Some games definitely take advantage of more than 2 cores (BF3), but most games don't scale much past 2 cores (MW3). I tend to play older games or lighter weight games, so 4 cores don't help me much there. Where you'll feel 4 cores over 2 is non-gaming computer use where you're task switching between multiple applications.
Yeah, MW3 runs on a heavily modified id Tech 3 engine (which was originally used on Quake III Arena). That's not to say it's a bad engine -- in fact, because they've got a decade of experience tweaking, improving, and utilizing the engine they are probably significantly better off than if they had hopped tools a few times, but I'm guessing it'd be a huge mountain to climb to make it capable of utilizing n cores.
Of course, they've got other engine features to worry about before they tackle parallel computing. The first game using their engine to get HDR lighting will be Black Ops II.
Dehumanized on
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DuriniaEvolved from Space PotatoesRegistered Userregular
Whelp, here we go...
The kicker - it's a birthday present (thanks, dear!), which means that I need to sit on the boxes for roughly 3 weeks once they arrive.
This is going to be torture. I will happily document it for you guys, if you'd like. :-p
For business reasons, I must preserve the outward sign of sanity.
--Mark Twain
Posts
Granted, they replaced 3 Scythe Slipstreams which were really loud.
I recommend whatever your car is running.
Joking aside, price range per fan?
Battle.net
due to screws being stuck in the risers and other things, I lost by mere seconds
But I got a new case! When finishing up after the comeptition, pretty sure I fried the motherboard. I was rough on the hardware in the contest, knowing I am literally buying new hardware tonight. But I wanted to run the build by you guys to see what you thought.
ASRock Z75 Pro3
i5 3570k
and either 8gigs ram at ~50 or 16gigs at ~80 dollars. I am on bit of a budget, but I can budge 100-200$ if its worth bang for the buck. I only need mobo/ram/processor in the new build.
edit: here's the case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139013 corsair vengence. It's so much nicer then my antec 1200... I hate that case.
I'll second the R4's. I have 5 in my case (a bit overkill tbh) and they're very very quiet but still move a sufficient amount of air.
These are relatively mild examples. I've seen this sort of thing in ME3, League of Legends, Fallout: New Vegas, and Guild Wars 2, among other games. Every so often, I will reseat my video card, and sometimes that makes them go away for awhile, but they always come back. Anyone have any advice? Is my video card just completely borked?
Edit: I should probably mention that this is my video card and this is my mobo, running Windows 7 64-bit.
Battle.net
Download SpeedFan, run a game and monitor your GPU temperature.
Ooh excitement!!! I installed my SSD and put Windows 8 on it to give it a whirl. It boots in seconds!! And this is on SATA 3Gb/s...can't wait until I get my SATA 6Gb/s motherboard.
I don't really know anything about building PC's or good graphics cards aside from what I've gleaned from a few posts and the OP. On NCIX prices for the EVGA GeForce GTX 560 and GTX550 seem reasonable. I want to keep my costs below 500 CAD so I'm worried about the $200 i5 processors presenting itself as a problem. The other components are all over a half-decade old so I'm weighing whether it's worth it to just replace everything down to the MoBo and power supply. Specs currently are a Pentium 4 2.40 ghz processor, Nvidia GeForce 6600 and 1GB RAM so it's really outdated.
I really only want to play today's and tomorrow's games at medium to low settings so some help would be appreciated.
EDIT: I also haven't considered my place in the "Ever-War". Would it help to list the type of games I want to play before choosing ATI or Nvidia? I shold also mention that I will have help when putting the desktop together, so I don't really need so much help with that.
Steam: CavilatRest
I went from xfired 6870s and now I'm playing everything maxed with post processing effects coming out the wahzoo which, to be fair, was about what my 6870s were pushing out. The difference is I have no microstutter and other weird problems you associate with xfire (for reference I tested BF3, ME3, Civ V, Mount & Blade Warband, Day Z, AssBro, TW:Shogun, Saints Row 3 and some synth benchmarks).
Don't get me wrong, xfired 6870s were very nice and they're $150 or so cheaper than the 670 but that 150 extra just took my gaming experience from fuck-awesome to flawless
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
If $500 is your limit and all you need is CPU/Mobo/RAM/GPU, then I say:
CPU: http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=75429&vpn=BX80637I33220&manufacture=Intel
Motherboard: http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=69891&vpn=P8H77-M/CSM&manufacture=ASUS&promoid=1360
RAM: Pick an 8GB set, there are a bunch for under $50.
GPU: Pick something for $200, maybe you can swing a 560ti?
Yeah I'm hoping the power supply and HDD don't have to be replaced. I haven't opened it up yet (going to wait until my friend can help me) because I have no expertise with building computers so I'm not really sure if the other stuff is in good condition or appropriate for the suggested build. Also, do you think the Ivy Bridge i3 is enough for most games? I can't find too many reviews of it due to how new it is.
I think my choice between Nvidia and ATI will be determined by whatever sales are going around the time I think.
Steam: CavilatRest
4 cores, but they're 10% slower* than the i3-3220.
MB has no CF/SLI capability.
Sorry for the image link, NCIX site is unfamiliar to me, also totals don't reflect $55 in MIR for SSD and GPU.
*Edit: clocks. i5-2320 is SNB not IVB.
Following the guidelines in the OP; I'm looking for a desktop primarily for playing games, nothing I do with regards to work or school will be more taxing that that, something that can run Starcraft II, DotA 2 and similar games at respectable graphics. I can spend up to 1500 USD for tower, monitor, and keyboard, but of course less is always better. I don't know enough about manufacturers to have a preference and I don't have any special needs as far as I know.
I think I've got my shortlist down
BenQ XL2420T Most expensive choice, 1920x1080 but good quality and 120Hz
Dell UltraSharp U2412M Crowd favourite. A really nice panel with good angles and I quite like 16:10 aspect. 60Hz refresh is the negative here but it's cheapest on the list
Asus VG236HE The cheaper 120Hz option. Slightly smaller screen, but that's not a deal breaker really.
ACHIEVA Shimian QH270 This is my Korean 27" 2560x1440 option. Fucking cheap and huge. Cons being quality isn't assured and an RMA would be a huge pain in the arse (the other monitors I can pick up locally). Going sight unseen on that kind of resolution makes me nervous. i would love to have a play with one to make sure I like how it plays with my 670
Decisions, decisions....
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
Battle.net
How common is it for a game to support four cores? Not sure if I want a SSD right now though, I'm thinking of going with something like this. I might decide to drop some extra money to get a MoBo capable of SLI/CF to futureproof it a bit. Thanks for the help!
Steam: CavilatRest
Yeah... it's where I'm heading I think.
But then I think about how much I like 120Hz monitors for stuff like bf3...
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
Are there monitors that can't do that? I don't think I've ever seen a monitor that doesn't have a OSD. Unless OSD doesn't stand for onscreen display.
There are quite a few monitors and TVs that don't have OSDs. There's communities of people who look at OSDs as unnecessary/not grabular enough/a resource hog
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
We're doing a group buy on these monitors
We get 500 ordered and we pay like $200-$250 each
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
Wait, then how do you adjust stuff like RGB settings and brightness and stuff? I don't think I've ever owned a monitor that didn't have an OSD.
meanwhile I am taking my own joke far too seriously where I'm contemplating the possibility of a PA monitor group buy...
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
The panels in cheap Korean monitors and Apple Cinema displays and basically every other 27'' IPS 1440p display are all made by LG. The cheap Korean versions have less impressive feature-sets (OSD, connectivity, etc.) the warranty (if it has one you can use) is a bitch to process, because Korea, and they aren't factory calibrated at all. My understanding is that the panels in the Korean monitors may also be binned at a slightly lower level than a panel used by Dell or Apple. Though, once again, you're generally paying less than half of what one of those monitors would cost.
I don't think they're the best option for everyone, and paying more does get you more value, like Thunderbolt if you go through Apple, or factory calibration, an OSD and a USB hub (among other things) from Dell. I myself own a bigass Dell Ultrasharp. Still, for gaming and general usage, that screen real estate and the quality of an IPS screen at such a low price is pretty compelling, and from the experiences people have been talking about here, it seems like you do get that.
Battle.net
Give me a bit, I can't disrupt the "Alecthar's Latest Needless Expenditure" fund. Now that RAID 0 has TRIM on Z77 boards, I'm feeling an Ivy Bridge build with 1TB of Solid State storage coming on.
Battle.net
Toms Hardware did a fine analysis of 20 games comparing multiple core scaling. My google-fu fails me, but the results were: "trending to 3 cores". Problem is the study was 2 years ago and not sure if game developers have moved towards taking advantage of more than 2 cores. Could be they have, could be they are targeting lower power platforms or existing installbase. Some games definitely take advantage of more than 2 cores (BF3), but most games don't scale much past 2 cores (MW3). I tend to play older games or lighter weight games, so 4 cores don't help me much there. Where you'll feel 4 cores over 2 is non-gaming computer use where you're task switching between multiple applications.
Of course, they've got other engine features to worry about before they tackle parallel computing. The first game using their engine to get HDR lighting will be Black Ops II.
This is going to be torture. I will happily document it for you guys, if you'd like. :-p
--Mark Twain
Yes photos would be awesome @Durinia!
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke