680 is like 600 bucks as opposed to the 660 which is half the price? Is there a huge difference? Worth it? That's a pretty high barrier for entry. How long do you think it'll future proof me for? You really think the 780 won't be that much better?
So, tonight the fan on my Radeon HD 6850 has started getting noisy. Opened up the case to check, and the fan's not obstructed, it's not jammed, it's still spinning at what seems to be the same speed, but it's vibrating and making noise as it does so. Not when the computer first boots up, but soon enough after beginning to load up some programs.
Now, at first I thought, "Maybe it's time to shop for a video card upgrade." But then I looked around and benchmarks/reviews say this is still a decent card. I got it only 9 months ago. Is there something I can do to adjust the fan into place again? Or am I stuck looking at a noisy fan which could possibly fail at some imminent point until I go buy a new card?
The card should still be under warranty, so RMA the card. You'll save some money, along with the time and trouble of installing a new cooler.
If I still had the receipt and the packaging, perhaps, but I'm not sure where the receipt is and I know I put the box out for recycling a while ago.
0
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
680 is like 600 bucks as opposed to the 660 which is half the price? Is there a huge difference? Worth it? That's a pretty high barrier for entry. How long do you think it'll future proof me for? You really think the 780 won't be that much better?
If you want to step up, but not spend 600 bucks, go with the 670. It's what a bunch of us use, to great effect. It's basically a 680 with one core cluster turned off, but in real world tests, benchmarks very competitively with it's bigger brother.
670's are going for 400, and will future protect you for at least a GPU generation. There is really no such thing as future proof, just how many generations can I get out of it.
e: As a side note, only 4GB 680's with special features are 600 bucks. Here's the superclocked 2GB EVGA 680 for 500:
I'm currently running a GTX 560 Ti with basic air cooling, and while the performance is neat it does run very hot (around 80c) when I play some of the newer games. I have monies at my disposal currently, so I have options and was wondering if folks here could give me some input: Would jumping to a 660/670 help with my heat problems? (while running the same games on the same setting I run atm). Alternatively I could invest in a swankier case with better air cooling. I don't know if I'm knowledgeable enough to put other forms of cooling into action.
So I'm building on a budget, not too lame a budget but a budget none the less.
The core of the system (and the stuff I'll be buying from new-egg) is as follows
Which basically leaves me with ram... which is where I need some help.
I'll be nabbing a GTX 660ti but I'm not factoring that in to my current budget of ~1200
I see that the mobo I'm eyeing supports up to ddr3 2400 (zoom!) but I'm not too fond of overclocking my stuff that high. What are the pros and cons of overclocking RAM? I know in the past it was basically just something to do and you wouldn't notice it that much due to hdd speeds, but with SSDs and Sata 3.0 out would I really notice a difference between say 1600 and 2000?
I'm at 986~ + tax including a storage HDD and optical drive currently.
I'm currently running a GTX 560 Ti with basic air cooling, and while the performance is neat it does run very hot (around 80c) when I play some of the newer games. I have monies at my disposal currently, so I have options and was wondering if folks here could give me some input: Would jumping to a 660/670 help with my heat problems? (while running the same games on the same setting I run atm). Alternatively I could invest in a swankier case with better air cooling. I don't know if I'm knowledgeable enough to put other forms of cooling into action.
I've wondered the same. Do beefier cards run cooler at equal settings because of more overhead? Or would they actually run hotter because they simply run hotter, period?
This is probably a really broad question, but generally speaking who's making the better cards these days, AMD or nVidia? I suggested a friend get a 660ti for his new rig, but the guy he knows who was going to build it for him suggested he get a 7870 instead. I've usually preferred nVidia out of a mixture of 'just always have' and I like their physx tech, but is there any legitimate difference these days?
This is probably a really broad question, but generally speaking who's making the better cards these days, AMD or nVidia? I suggested a friend get a 660ti for his new rig, but the guy he knows who was going to build it for him suggested he get a 7870 instead. I've usually preferred nVidia out of a mixture of 'just always have' and I like their physx tech, but is there any legitimate difference these days?
not really, at each price bracket you get pretty equal performance out of either manufacturer.
I'm trying to find the right motherboard and power supply.
As far as the MB goes, I've narrowed it down to ASUS and Z77, but after that the choices are overwhelming. What kind of features do I need in a motherboard? I usually spend about $3-400 on a graphics card (Leaning on a 660 Ti for now) and upgrade a year or two later. I've never dabbled in SLI, but I might want to sometime. Other than that it's pretty standard stuff. Maybe an SSD+HDD combo for OS and data. Not sure what else I'd need in a motherboard. And yes I'd like to over clock.
As for PSU I've narrowed it down to Corsair and Modular. Not sure how much power I need. I put an 850 on my shopping cart because I flush with war bucks and want to splurge on the possibility of going crazy with this set up, but I could use some of that cash for something else. Such as a bigger SSD or a better graphics card.
Would it be better to just post my entire proposed build?
Rocket Surgery on
0
proyebatGARY WAS HEREASH IS A LOSERRegistered Userregular
edited October 2012
Hey @SabreMau, don't take this too seriously but would you consider slapping a closed-loop water cooler on that card? Sort of like how I have my computer setup, just not held together with hopes and dreams.
I really should buy a proper bracket to mount that bad boy. Zip ties can't last forever...
So I am looking at possibly building a high-end machine over the next month or so. The goal is gaming, graphics design (Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, etc), storage for my network and watching movies in the bedroom using big monitor. I would like to try and keep it down below $2,000. This is my "ultimate" list that is at $2,100 but I know there is a lot of overkill.
Any suggestions for better pieces? Do I have too much? I like the bigger case and motherboard, plus BlueTooth and Thunderbolt. I am also debating dropping something down and getting a second 2TB drive.
Wish List:
Rosewill BLACKHAWK-ULTRA Gaming Super Tower Computer Case, support up to HPTX, come with Eight Fans,Top HDD docking - Retail
Item #: N82E16811147157
$189.99
ASUS Maximus V EXTREME LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131858
$379.00
Rosewill RCR-IC001 40-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB Port / Extra Silver Face Plate
Item #: N82E16820223103
$11.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit
Item #: N82E16832116986
$99.99
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817139021
$139.99
Talonrazor on
0
proyebatGARY WAS HEREASH IS A LOSERRegistered Userregular
@tsmvengy, it flows side-intake, top/front-exhaust with a 200mm fan installed dead center on the access panel.
Also I'm trying to get someone from Overclock.net to make a custom low-profile heatsink to replace the top blue heatsink as it blocked a fan+rad setup. I would have to throw the fan outside on top of the case.
@Alecthar, I managed to get the rest of the specs of my girlfriends current laptop last night.
At the moment she has a Sony Vaio VPC-EB24FD. Her only real complaints with the one she has now would be the weight of it is a bit much, it is fairly thick and bulky to carry around all the time. The hard drive capacity is also quite small, and we both think a 1TB drive instead of 500GB would be preferable. At the moment I don't know how sold she is on the idea of buying an entirely new laptop unless there would be some tangible benefit to the cost of an upgrade but im sure if it made sense to do so, she would. I cannot imagine her wanting to spend upwards of say, $800 all in. If the game could run starcraft 2 on low settings half decently I bet she would be completely satisfied (she rarely ever actually games). If I could get some recommendations on where to start beyond brand specifics. I know ASUS is good so I've checked there but I am a bit too interested in performance of PC's and end up getting lost in days and days worth of researching every little detail. I am still considering just tossing a $100 1TB drive in her PC and she can continue on with that.
In short, she is looking for some pretty basic requirements.
<5lbs
15" screen (with support for DVI/VGA output for a second monitor at home)
2+ USB ports
750GB+ HD (1TB prefered)
Reliability
Obviously the cheapest solution is to upgrade the HDD. That's still a pretty nice laptop, and if she simply will not entertain the use of any external storage then that's really the best (only?) thing to do.
I really can't stress enough, though, how convenient those 2.5'' enclosures are if you have the right one. Literally just plugs into 2 USB ports and goes.
I'll take a look around, though (not like I don't like doing research on computer stuff) and see if I can find something. Is the 15'' screen criteria based on the actual dimensions, or that she likes the resolution, because a lot of nice 13'' laptops run at 1366x768.
We were in a mall yesterday and as we were walking past the NCIX inside we decided to hop in and play with the laptops. She ended up deciding that she didnt need a new laptop enough to justify the cost of one right now, so I grabbed her a 1TB drive for her Vaio (and a 1TB for myself :P). I am very surprised how capable this unit really is, she picked it up for like $500 over 2 years ago.
Plugged all the drives into my computer last night and setup partition on her new 1TB , copied her files to the storage partition and this morning did the windows install on the 100GB area, which went totally smooth and it's currently sitting beside me doing a full range if Windows updates. Cant wait to set this thing up for her as best as I can, it already runs so much smoother on a fresh OS. Also hit the vents with some compressed air to get all the dust out and it runs cooler and quieter than before
Varinn on
0
Monkey Ball WarriorA collection of mediocre hatsSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
edited October 2012
I love every little thing about my new build, except my EVGA 660 makes a fairly weird static-like noise when it is under load. It's not the fan, I'm pretty sure. It's creeping me out, although it seems to run just fine otherwise. It's not super loud, I probably would have had a hard time hearing it over the noise of my old build, to be honest, but with all these quiet Noctua fans, its clearly audible even with the case side on.
edit: Photos!:
Monkey Ball Warrior on
"I resent the entire notion of a body as an ante and then raise you a generalized dissatisfaction with physicality itself" -- Tycho
Any use that SanDisk Ready Cache? Thinking about throwing one in my current computer to limp it along until I get my new one built. Do they really work all that great? It's basically just an SSD with software, right?
0
Monkey Ball WarriorA collection of mediocre hatsSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
Well the CPU and the backside fan are on PWM, but the front two and the 140mm on top are on the fan controller, and I generally run them at the lowest setting, which is so slow that if I start it at that setting from a cold stop, they won't even start spinning. I have to turn them up for a sec to get them going and turn them back down.
It's basically inaudible.
There's a spot on the bottom for another 120mm but I figured that was going too far.
Monkey Ball Warrior on
"I resent the entire notion of a body as an ante and then raise you a generalized dissatisfaction with physicality itself" -- Tycho
0
Monkey Ball WarriorA collection of mediocre hatsSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
Any use that SanDisk Ready Cache? Thinking about throwing one in my current computer to limp it along until I get my new one built. Do they really work all that great? It's basically just an SSD with software, right?
From what I've read doing an SSD cache like that can get you something halfway between a mechanical drive and an SSD, so if you can't afford a full sized SSD it might still be the best improvement you can buy. That being said, you can also accomplish effectively the same thing by installing a large amount of ram, like 16-32GB, which may or may not be cheaper. Windows will use the spare ram as a disk cache in the same way SSD cacheing software uses small SSD's. The main difference is you'll lose the RAM cache whenever you reboot, where with SSDs I assume it would be preserved across reboots.
Monkey Ball Warrior on
"I resent the entire notion of a body as an ante and then raise you a generalized dissatisfaction with physicality itself" -- Tycho
Computer Build Thread, I come to you seeking advice. Currently putting together a parts list for a build, and where I really need help is with the mobo/CPU. I haven't homebuilt in ages so I'm a little rusty on it. I know I want Intel; I'm assuming Ivy Bridge. I game casual-moderate (WoW/Skyrim/MW3 type stuff) so I definitely don't require bleeding edge anything, but I do want solid performance in those games. I have zero interest in overclocking, and I'll be running a single-card graphics setup. I just don't game hard enough to bother with SLI/crossfire. I also do zero photoshop/video editing. I've read up on this thread and Newegg and such but I'm afraid I'll end up going overkill on my purchase as usual. I don't really have a set budget but I want to keep the whole build at $1k or less. Would a i5 non-K be sufficient for my needs for the next couple years?
Bonus question: Is the HAF912 the go-to budget case for good air cooling/cable management?
0
AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
I'm currently running a GTX 560 Ti with basic air cooling, and while the performance is neat it does run very hot (around 80c) when I play some of the newer games. I have monies at my disposal currently, so I have options and was wondering if folks here could give me some input: Would jumping to a 660/670 help with my heat problems? (while running the same games on the same setting I run atm). Alternatively I could invest in a swankier case with better air cooling. I don't know if I'm knowledgeable enough to put other forms of cooling into action.
I've wondered the same. Do beefier cards run cooler at equal settings because of more overhead? Or would they actually run hotter because they simply run hotter, period?
80C isn't excessively hot for a Fermi card, honestly. If you're really worried, make sure you have adequate airflow coming into the case from the front and/or side intakes, and make sure there isn't too much stuff in the way blocking it. Also make sure the cooler on the card isn't clogged with dust.
How hot a video card runs depends on a number of factors. To compare beefier cards to less beefy ones, a GTX 680 at full tilt will probably run cooler than a 560 Ti under the same conditions because it's based on a more efficient architecture that runs at lower clockspeeds and demands less voltage. A GTX 660 vs. a GTX 680 would be interesting. The power saving tech in this generation of NVIDIA cards is way better than previous, so if neither card is really straining itself to render something, power draw and heat levels would likely be very similar.
As a general rule, though, on identical architectures, lower end cards draw less power and generate less heat, because even if a higher end card isn't using all that horsepower, there's a certain amount of power and heat "overhead" (for lack of a better term) that lower end cards don't have by comparison, because they have disabled clusters where beefier cards have running cores (even if those cores aren't doing much).
Computer Build Thread, I come to you seeking advice. Currently putting together a parts list for a build, and where I really need help is with the mobo/CPU. I haven't homebuilt in ages so I'm a little rusty on it. I know I want Intel; I'm assuming Ivy Bridge. I game casual-moderate (WoW/Skyrim/MW3 type stuff) so I definitely don't require bleeding edge anything, but I do want solid performance in those games. I have zero interest in overclocking, and I'll be running a single-card graphics setup. I just don't game hard enough to bother with SLI/crossfire. I also do zero photoshop/video editing. I've read up on this thread and Newegg and such but I'm afraid I'll end up going overkill on my purchase as usual. I don't really have a set budget but I want to keep the whole build at $1k or less. Would a i5 non-K be sufficient for my needs for the next couple years?
Bonus question: Is the HAF912 the go-to budget case for good air cooling/cable management?
Bonus answer: Yes.
I'd say go with an i3-3220 and basically any H77 motherboard that comes in at around $100 and gives you the feature-set you want. If you must have 4 cores, one of the non-K i5s, like the i5-3470, would be appropriate, same motherboard though.
Edit: I went ahead and put together a machine on Newegg. I've been out of the loop for awhile so I don't know what models and brands are the best, but here's what I selected based off of user ratings:
EVGA GeForce GTX 670 4GB (it wasn't much more than the 2GB model, plus it has an instant discount and rebates)
Corsair HX750
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 Motherboard
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Processor
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler
Samsung 830 Series SSD
Corsair 600T White Computer Case
Dashui on
Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
0
ButtersA glass of some milksRegistered Userregular
So my 9800gt just bit the dust and I'm looking to get something to get my system back up and running for GW2. Unfortunately my rig only has PCI x16 slot and the slot has progressed two generations since my last rebuild. This was news to me!
I'm not ready to overhaul yet (maybe sometime in 2013) so I am looking for a stopgap and maybe a slight upgrade. The GTX 550 Ti(PCIx 2.0) and GTX 650 (PCIx 3.0) are falling the pricerange I'm willing to invest in this current rig. I know I'm going to be limiting both cards by putting them in my PCI x16 slot but my question is this: will I be hamstringing both cards to the point where I won't see any benefit of the 650 over the 550?
I am of course open to other suggestions for cards but I'd really like to get something on order soon so I'd prefer something that's readily available from a reputable distributer as opposed to a used whatever from eBay.
After some program crashes over the past few days (including some bluescreen Windows freezes too), I decided to run a memory test and Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, at the start of the test, immediately displayed a "Hardware problems were detected" error while the test started. Took out the sticks, swapped their positions and reseated them, ran test again. Same error. Took out one stick and ran the test. It got to 5% before signaling the error this time. Tried it with the other stick. No problems detected. So it appears I've got one stick of failure RAM. It should run fine on the other stick for now, but how to go about replacing it?
The exact model was this kind, labeled as "16GB (2x8GB)". They don't appear to sell these things individually, only as pairs. So if I were to get more RAM of the same model, I'd then have three sticks in there. The motherboard is only listed as supporting dual-channel, not triple or quad. Would that be a problem or would it get along fine? And if I keep the currently-working RAM in there, would the replacement ones need to be the same model, or would be be okay if two of one kind were in slots 1 and 2 while a single of another kind is in slot 3 or 4?
So I'm building on a budget, not too lame a budget but a budget none the less.
The core of the system (and the stuff I'll be buying from new-egg) is as follows
Which basically leaves me with ram... which is where I need some help.
I'll be nabbing a GTX 660ti but I'm not factoring that in to my current budget of ~1200
I see that the mobo I'm eyeing supports up to ddr3 2400 (zoom!) but I'm not too fond of overclocking my stuff that high. What are the pros and cons of overclocking RAM? I know in the past it was basically just something to do and you wouldn't notice it that much due to hdd speeds, but with SSDs and Sata 3.0 out would I really notice a difference between say 1600 and 2000?
I'm at 986~ + tax including a storage HDD and optical drive currently.
This is the only question I have before I start pulling the trigger on purchases.
0
Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
After some program crashes over the past few days (including some bluescreen Windows freezes too), I decided to run a memory test and Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, at the start of the test, immediately displayed a "Hardware problems were detected" error while the test started. Took out the sticks, swapped their positions and reseated them, ran test again. Same error. Took out one stick and ran the test. It got to 5% before signaling the error this time. Tried it with the other stick. No problems detected. So it appears I've got one stick of failure RAM. It should run fine on the other stick for now, but how to go about replacing it?
The exact model was this kind, labeled as "16GB (2x8GB)". They don't appear to sell these things individually, only as pairs. So if I were to get more RAM of the same model, I'd then have three sticks in there. The motherboard is only listed as supporting dual-channel, not triple or quad. Would that be a problem or would it get along fine? And if I keep the currently-working RAM in there, would the replacement ones need to be the same model, or would be be okay if two of one kind were in slots 1 and 2 while a single of another kind is in slot 3 or 4?
I can't speak for your exact motherboard, but I know that my shitty old budget socket 775 ASUS motherboard had a dual-mode capability where if I put a strange amount of RAM in it, as long as the sticks all matched (same speed and timings) it would dual-channel as much as it could, and single-channel the rest. For instance I could put 3x2GB sticks in it, and it would dual-channel 4 gigs and single-channel the rest, favouring the dual-channel sticks i.e. it would use them first and roll over onto the single channel memory if it ran out of space.
So I'm building on a budget, not too lame a budget but a budget none the less.
The core of the system (and the stuff I'll be buying from new-egg) is as follows
Which basically leaves me with ram... which is where I need some help.
I'll be nabbing a GTX 660ti but I'm not factoring that in to my current budget of ~1200
I see that the mobo I'm eyeing supports up to ddr3 2400 (zoom!) but I'm not too fond of overclocking my stuff that high. What are the pros and cons of overclocking RAM? I know in the past it was basically just something to do and you wouldn't notice it that much due to hdd speeds, but with SSDs and Sata 3.0 out would I really notice a difference between say 1600 and 2000?
I'm at 986~ + tax including a storage HDD and optical drive currently.
This is the only question I have before I start pulling the trigger on purchases.
Faster ram offers little to no benefit. Get 8GB of whatever is on sale.
Oh I was just messing around with it a bit. It either works great (borderlands 2, battlefield) or things will only run windowed on super low rez(diablo, skyrim).
I was hoping someone might have some insight into why just having eyefinity enabled would lock certain games to extremely low resolution
0
minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
I noticed that happening sometimes with the Nvidia setup, too. I couldn't always figure it out, but the Widescreen Gaming forum has lots of good info about it that helped on some games. I'd go check there, as they tend to address pretty much every game pretty well.
I think I remember getting Skyrim to run well, but Diablo 3 was kind of a disaster because you run into lots of areas where the game doesn't even bother to render stuff that far outside the "normal" 16:9 viewport, so the side monitors are filled with black polygons, and areas where you just see the skybox with no terrain in front of it.
Everything looks beautiful when you're young and pretty
See a lot of people say this but it's not necessarily true. There's been plenty of fuck ups with Nvidia drivers, too. Really, the best option is have a look at the games you love to play and google around to see if there's a lot of issues with the card you're buying and the games you play
GonmunHe keeps kickin' me inthe dickRegistered Userregular
Alright...so, just remembered that I had been running my last psu with the 6 pin adapter on since I had upgraded to a 560ti. Should I be looking at a 500w instead of a 450w then? Also would it be better to have a psu with 2 6 pin connectors instead of using the adapter? I'm getting conflicting things. Some saying it's alright and others saying that it can be bad over time?
Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
Do you mean the 2 x molex to PCI-E cable adapter? Using them is fine, it's just that it's meant as a kludgey fix, not really a permanent thing. If you don't care what your wiring looks like or you can hide it, stick with what you've got.
0
GonmunHe keeps kickin' me inthe dickRegistered Userregular
Do you mean the 2 x molex to PCI-E cable adapter? Using them is fine, it's just that it's meant as a kludgey fix, not really a permanent thing. If you don't care what your wiring looks like or you can hide it, stick with what you've got.
Ahh, so there's no specific wrong thing in using it aside from a cosmetic sense?
Do you mean the 2 x molex to PCI-E cable adapter? Using them is fine, it's just that it's meant as a kludgey fix, not really a permanent thing. If you don't care what your wiring looks like or you can hide it, stick with what you've got.
Ahh, so there's no specific wrong thing in using it aside from a cosmetic sense?
Correct. They are perfectly capable of carrying the required electricity from the PSU to your GPU.
Houn on
0
GonmunHe keeps kickin' me inthe dickRegistered Userregular
Do you mean the 2 x molex to PCI-E cable adapter? Using them is fine, it's just that it's meant as a kludgey fix, not really a permanent thing. If you don't care what your wiring looks like or you can hide it, stick with what you've got.
Ahh, so there's no specific wrong thing in using it aside from a cosmetic sense?
Correct. They are perfectly capable of carrying the required electricity from the PSU to your GPU.
Alright. Now, if a psu calculator is showing I'm only needing about 406W but manufacturer is saying I need 500W for the GeForce GTX 560ti should I stick with 500W then and not 450W?
Posts
If I still had the receipt and the packaging, perhaps, but I'm not sure where the receipt is and I know I put the box out for recycling a while ago.
If you want to step up, but not spend 600 bucks, go with the 670. It's what a bunch of us use, to great effect. It's basically a 680 with one core cluster turned off, but in real world tests, benchmarks very competitively with it's bigger brother.
670's are going for 400, and will future protect you for at least a GPU generation. There is really no such thing as future proof, just how many generations can I get out of it.
e: As a side note, only 4GB 680's with special features are 600 bucks. Here's the superclocked 2GB EVGA 680 for 500:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130769
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
The core of the system (and the stuff I'll be buying from new-egg) is as follows
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504
And directly from Corsair I'm grabbing
http://www.corsair.com/en/force-series-3-240gb-sata-3-6gbps-solid-state-hard-drive.html
http://www.corsair.com/en/professional-series-gold-ax850-80-plus-gold-certified-fully-modular-power-supply.html
Which basically leaves me with ram... which is where I need some help.
I'll be nabbing a GTX 660ti but I'm not factoring that in to my current budget of ~1200
I see that the mobo I'm eyeing supports up to ddr3 2400 (zoom!) but I'm not too fond of overclocking my stuff that high. What are the pros and cons of overclocking RAM? I know in the past it was basically just something to do and you wouldn't notice it that much due to hdd speeds, but with SSDs and Sata 3.0 out would I really notice a difference between say 1600 and 2000?
I'm at 986~ + tax including a storage HDD and optical drive currently.
I've wondered the same. Do beefier cards run cooler at equal settings because of more overhead? Or would they actually run hotter because they simply run hotter, period?
not really, at each price bracket you get pretty equal performance out of either manufacturer.
As far as the MB goes, I've narrowed it down to ASUS and Z77, but after that the choices are overwhelming. What kind of features do I need in a motherboard? I usually spend about $3-400 on a graphics card (Leaning on a 660 Ti for now) and upgrade a year or two later. I've never dabbled in SLI, but I might want to sometime. Other than that it's pretty standard stuff. Maybe an SSD+HDD combo for OS and data. Not sure what else I'd need in a motherboard. And yes I'd like to over clock.
As for PSU I've narrowed it down to Corsair and Modular. Not sure how much power I need. I put an 850 on my shopping cart because I flush with war bucks and want to splurge on the possibility of going crazy with this set up, but I could use some of that cash for something else. Such as a bigger SSD or a better graphics card.
Would it be better to just post my entire proposed build?
I really should buy a proper bracket to mount that bad boy. Zip ties can't last forever...
Any suggestions for better pieces? Do I have too much? I like the bigger case and motherboard, plus BlueTooth and Thunderbolt. I am also debating dropping something down and getting a second 2TB drive.
Wish List:
Item #: N82E16811147157
$189.99
ASUS Maximus V EXTREME LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131858
$379.00
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K
Item #: N82E16819116504
$229.99
Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD1CCA 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC 7mm Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) with Data Transfer Kit
Item #: N82E16820148534
$209.99
EVGA 04G-P4-3685-KR GeForce GTX 680 FTW Standard, w/Backplate 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Item #: N82E16814130798
$579.99
Western Digital Red WD20EFRX 2TB IntelliPower SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822236343
$159.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Desktop Memory Model F3-8500CL7D-8GBRL
Item #: N82E16820231308
$34.99
LITE-ON Black 12X Blu-ray Burner with Blu Ray 3D Feature SATA IHBS112-04
Item #: N82E16827106369
$69.99
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card
Item #: N82E16829102003
$24.99
Rosewill RCR-IC001 40-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB Port / Extra Silver Face Plate
Item #: N82E16820223103
$11.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit
Item #: N82E16832116986
$99.99
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817139021
$139.99
Also I'm trying to get someone from Overclock.net to make a custom low-profile heatsink to replace the top blue heatsink as it blocked a fan+rad setup. I would have to throw the fan outside on top of the case.
Plugged all the drives into my computer last night and setup partition on her new 1TB , copied her files to the storage partition and this morning did the windows install on the 100GB area, which went totally smooth and it's currently sitting beside me doing a full range if Windows updates. Cant wait to set this thing up for her as best as I can, it already runs so much smoother on a fresh OS. Also hit the vents with some compressed air to get all the dust out and it runs cooler and quieter than before
edit: Photos!:
Well the CPU and the backside fan are on PWM, but the front two and the 140mm on top are on the fan controller, and I generally run them at the lowest setting, which is so slow that if I start it at that setting from a cold stop, they won't even start spinning. I have to turn them up for a sec to get them going and turn them back down.
It's basically inaudible.
There's a spot on the bottom for another 120mm but I figured that was going too far.
From what I've read doing an SSD cache like that can get you something halfway between a mechanical drive and an SSD, so if you can't afford a full sized SSD it might still be the best improvement you can buy. That being said, you can also accomplish effectively the same thing by installing a large amount of ram, like 16-32GB, which may or may not be cheaper. Windows will use the spare ram as a disk cache in the same way SSD cacheing software uses small SSD's. The main difference is you'll lose the RAM cache whenever you reboot, where with SSDs I assume it would be preserved across reboots.
Bonus question: Is the HAF912 the go-to budget case for good air cooling/cable management?
80C isn't excessively hot for a Fermi card, honestly. If you're really worried, make sure you have adequate airflow coming into the case from the front and/or side intakes, and make sure there isn't too much stuff in the way blocking it. Also make sure the cooler on the card isn't clogged with dust.
How hot a video card runs depends on a number of factors. To compare beefier cards to less beefy ones, a GTX 680 at full tilt will probably run cooler than a 560 Ti under the same conditions because it's based on a more efficient architecture that runs at lower clockspeeds and demands less voltage. A GTX 660 vs. a GTX 680 would be interesting. The power saving tech in this generation of NVIDIA cards is way better than previous, so if neither card is really straining itself to render something, power draw and heat levels would likely be very similar.
As a general rule, though, on identical architectures, lower end cards draw less power and generate less heat, because even if a higher end card isn't using all that horsepower, there's a certain amount of power and heat "overhead" (for lack of a better term) that lower end cards don't have by comparison, because they have disabled clusters where beefier cards have running cores (even if those cores aren't doing much).
Bonus answer: Yes.
I'd say go with an i3-3220 and basically any H77 motherboard that comes in at around $100 and gives you the feature-set you want. If you must have 4 cores, one of the non-K i5s, like the i5-3470, would be appropriate, same motherboard though.
Battle.net
EVGA GeForce GTX 670 4GB (it wasn't much more than the 2GB model, plus it has an instant discount and rebates)
Corsair HX750
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 Motherboard
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Processor
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler
Samsung 830 Series SSD
Corsair 600T White Computer Case
I'm not ready to overhaul yet (maybe sometime in 2013) so I am looking for a stopgap and maybe a slight upgrade. The GTX 550 Ti(PCIx 2.0) and GTX 650 (PCIx 3.0) are falling the pricerange I'm willing to invest in this current rig. I know I'm going to be limiting both cards by putting them in my PCI x16 slot but my question is this: will I be hamstringing both cards to the point where I won't see any benefit of the 650 over the 550?
I am of course open to other suggestions for cards but I'd really like to get something on order soon so I'd prefer something that's readily available from a reputable distributer as opposed to a used whatever from eBay.
The exact model was this kind, labeled as "16GB (2x8GB)". They don't appear to sell these things individually, only as pairs. So if I were to get more RAM of the same model, I'd then have three sticks in there. The motherboard is only listed as supporting dual-channel, not triple or quad. Would that be a problem or would it get along fine? And if I keep the currently-working RAM in there, would the replacement ones need to be the same model, or would be be okay if two of one kind were in slots 1 and 2 while a single of another kind is in slot 3 or 4?
This is the only question I have before I start pulling the trigger on purchases.
I can't speak for your exact motherboard, but I know that my shitty old budget socket 775 ASUS motherboard had a dual-mode capability where if I put a strange amount of RAM in it, as long as the sticks all matched (same speed and timings) it would dual-channel as much as it could, and single-channel the rest. For instance I could put 3x2GB sticks in it, and it would dual-channel 4 gigs and single-channel the rest, favouring the dual-channel sticks i.e. it would use them first and roll over onto the single channel memory if it ran out of space.
Faster ram offers little to no benefit. Get 8GB of whatever is on sale.
Whatcha need to know? I haven't actually used it, but I spent some time with Nvidia's (Surround Vision or whatever they call it) equivalent.
It was a bit of a pain in the ass, unfortunately.
I was hoping someone might have some insight into why just having eyefinity enabled would lock certain games to extremely low resolution
I think I remember getting Skyrim to run well, but Diablo 3 was kind of a disaster because you run into lots of areas where the game doesn't even bother to render stuff that far outside the "normal" 16:9 viewport, so the side monitors are filled with black polygons, and areas where you just see the skybox with no terrain in front of it.
i'll investigate widescreen gaming though, thanks for the advice
See a lot of people say this but it's not necessarily true. There's been plenty of fuck ups with Nvidia drivers, too. Really, the best option is have a look at the games you love to play and google around to see if there's a lot of issues with the card you're buying and the games you play
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
Ahh, so there's no specific wrong thing in using it aside from a cosmetic sense?
Correct. They are perfectly capable of carrying the required electricity from the PSU to your GPU.
Alright. Now, if a psu calculator is showing I'm only needing about 406W but manufacturer is saying I need 500W for the GeForce GTX 560ti should I stick with 500W then and not 450W?