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[Computer Build Thread] - What happens if I stick my screwdriver th- *bzzt*

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Posts

  • NEO|PhyteNEO|Phyte They follow the stars, bound together. Strands in a braid till the end.Registered User regular
    edited June 2015
    Been pondering a monitor upgrade to finally be rid of this old 4:3 DVI screen I use as my browsing/IRC/whatever area, if I'm not particularly concerned about things like GSync or 120Hz or 1440p or the like (perhaps for my eventual full system upgrade, but this current box is old enough I probably wouldn't be able to appreciably use them), what's a solid option? Current primary monitor is 23.6", should have room for another around that size, but bigger is out unless I find a way to add some more space.
    :edit: I guess for reference my current primary is an Asus VS247H-P, though if that one is actually subpar for things like gaming, it can easily become secondary if I get something new.

    NEO|Phyte on
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  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    Those Silverstone low profile SATA cables would be awesome if they weren't 1.) hideous baby blue and 2.) $10 a piece

    Am I blind, or is no one else making lowpro SATA cables?

    hea7mcrkmvmx.jpg
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    ...Monoprice?

  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    Mugsley wrote: »
    ...Monoprice?

    Monoprice is a retailer, I'm looking for a manufacturer.

    I need this:

    mCxKybK.jpg

    only not blue, and not expensive. Silverstone seems like the only manufacturer who makes SATA cables in this formfactor, and they only make them in pale blue, and I think that's pretty dumb and I don't know why it is this way.

    I mean yeah I can just get cables with 90 degree leads on both ends, but these seem nicer.

    hea7mcrkmvmx.jpg
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    spray paint!

    Delmain
  • tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    Mugsley wrote: »
    ...Monoprice?

    Monoprice is a retailer, I'm looking for a manufacturer.

    I need this:

    mCxKybK.jpg

    only not blue, and not expensive. Silverstone seems like the only manufacturer who makes SATA cables in this formfactor, and they only make them in pale blue, and I think that's pretty dumb and I don't know why it is this way.

    I mean yeah I can just get cables with 90 degree leads on both ends, but these seem nicer.

    Seems nuts when you can get a SATA cable for like $1 or $2.

    They make them in black, same crazy price:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812162062

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  • djmitchelladjmitchella Registered User regular
    this review thinks they're actually a pain to use, fwiw.

  • tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    this review thinks they're actually a pain to use, fwiw.

    Yeah I don't see why you would use it unless you had some kind of limiting factor that required it - space issues. Otherwise they are actually kind of ugly.

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    toloveistorebel
  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    Could also see them being really failure prone, actually. Those connections look.....fragile.

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  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    My computer arrived!

    The bad: The case is beat to shit. Really, horribly mangled in a lot of places. It says a lot about the build that it survived.
    Graphics card was unseated, might be on its last legs. I was planning on replacing it anyway so eh
    One of the USB's is fried
    The front of the case is mangled, might not be able to get the front USBs to work again

    The good: it basically all works, and this monitor looks fucking great.
    I have easy access to the workings because the case no longer closes

    Mugsley
  • FoomyFoomy Registered User regular
    well that's pretty good news, new case is an easy fix.

    Steam Profile: FoomyFooms
    Delmain
  • Jebus314Jebus314 Registered User regular
    @Tube, what monitor did you end up going with?

    "The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it" - Dr Horrible
  • TubeTube Registered User admin

    BenQ GW2765HT 27-Inch. Looks really nice, and the controls are easier than any monitor I've dealt with (I adjust brightness a lot). I ended up outsourcing the decision to my roommate, and they did a good job.

  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    Aah shit, there's a hole in the boat. It's started crashing after a few minutes. There's so many possible elements of chaos that I have no idea what it could be.

    Everything loads very slowly just before it crashes, just normal web browsing. Probably too much to ask that it's the video card. All the fans are still spinning properly it seems.

    Geth
  • FoomyFoomy Registered User regular
    I would try reseating your cpu heatsink, sounds like it might be overheating and then throttling down.

    Steam Profile: FoomyFooms
    Delmain
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    I think you're right, but that's probably out of my ability range. Safe mode didn't help, so I guess the video card can be eliminated as a culprit. I can't get a coherent error message.

  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    There was a power cable slightly out of place, so I think the fan was spinning but not quite fast enough. Hopefully that's solved it, but I won't really know until I can leave the power on for long enough for it to start overheating. It's possible it's only working now because it's cooled back down again.

  • THESPOOKYTHESPOOKY papa! Registered User regular
    edited June 2015
    Welp, it's that time. Been fighting Witcher 3 trying to get it to play nice at 30FPS to no avail, so I'm gonna start planning a new rig.

    I think I can get a GTX 680 for super cheap(from a friend), so I'm planning on doing that until I can upgrade to a 9xx series or whatever the new hotness is by the time I saw my arm and/or leg off.

    Elsewise, I've settled on a Devil's Canyon i7 and appropriate motherboard, 16GB of ram, and whatever hard drive. I'm not really itching for an SSD unless I can get a dirt cheap one.

    The thing I've never had to do is deal with a cooling solution myself. My current rig was prebought and Frankensteined over the years, but it's always had bad heating issues, so I wanna get this sucker running ice cold if I build it from the ground up. What are some good cases? Do I need aftermarket fans if I'm not going to overclock? Are said fans cheap enough that I might want to get them anyway, then overclock? I have no idea! I'm trying to keep this build relatively cheap--It's looking like about $600 for everything BUT the GPU, and I don't really want to go over that too much further.

    EDIT: Oh, and I move my computer around semi-often for fighting game get togethers, so I'm pretty sure that means water cooling is out. I definitely want air. Size and weight aren't an issue but as I understand it, water cooled rigs should not be moved often, right?

    THESPOOKY on
    d4753b065e9d63cc25203f06160a1cd1.png
  • XeddicusXeddicus Registered User regular
    You want an SSD if you can manage it.

    You don't need a new cooler if you're not overclocking. Stock will work fine.

    If you're not overclocking don't get a k series chip. If you do get a k series chip get a cooler and overclock it.

    I'm 99% sure you could drag an all-in-one water cooler around pretty safely. It wouldn't be the BEST idea, I suppose, though.

    As for cases- mainly depends on budget and then preference. People like the Define R4 as an example. But there are a ton of options.

    "For no one - no one in this world can you trust. Not men. Not women. Not beasts...this you can trust."
  • DelmainDelmain Registered User regular
    Tube, one thing to try is to open it up and (with power off and all the peripherals disconnected) try unplugging every cable you can see and plug them back in tightly. When things vibrate around, some times things start coming out of sockets and it's possible that there's a weak connection somewhere.

    Though I also second that you could try the reseating the heatsink idea, if you could find someone that could do that nearby.

  • Mmmm... Cocks...Mmmm... Cocks... Registered User regular
    I need some blue ray software. I'm willing to pay even, I've read that some software lacks certain features? I'm at a complete lose, I was hoping to use VLC, but it's pretty incomplete.

  • CabezoneCabezone Registered User regular
    THESPOOKY wrote: »
    Welp, it's that time. Been fighting Witcher 3 trying to get it to play nice at 30FPS to no avail, so I'm gonna start planning a new rig.

    I think I can get a GTX 680 for super cheap(from a friend), so I'm planning on doing that until I can upgrade to a 9xx series or whatever the new hotness is by the time I saw my arm and/or leg off.

    Elsewise, I've settled on a Devil's Canyon i7 and appropriate motherboard, 16GB of ram, and whatever hard drive. I'm not really itching for an SSD unless I can get a dirt cheap one.

    The thing I've never had to do is deal with a cooling solution myself. My current rig was prebought and Frankensteined over the years, but it's always had bad heating issues, so I wanna get this sucker running ice cold if I build it from the ground up. What are some good cases? Do I need aftermarket fans if I'm not going to overclock? Are said fans cheap enough that I might want to get them anyway, then overclock? I have no idea! I'm trying to keep this build relatively cheap--It's looking like about $600 for everything BUT the GPU, and I don't really want to go over that too much further.

    EDIT: Oh, and I move my computer around semi-often for fighting game get togethers, so I'm pretty sure that means water cooling is out. I definitely want air. Size and weight aren't an issue but as I understand it, water cooled rigs should not be moved often, right?

    Do you have a non gaming reason to get an i7? If not get a 3.4 i5 and use the saved money to get a ssd.

    An all in one cooler is maybe better to cart around than one of those giant aftermarket heatsinks.

    toloveistorebel
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    @Tube if you're willing to learn, it is exceedingly easy to reseat a heatsink. There are videos all over YT to give you some general guidance. Just be patient and deliberate with your actions and you will be fine. And in general, it's a very good skill to have at your disposal.

    SmokeStacksCampy
  • UreshiiAkumaUreshiiAkuma Registered User regular
    I've been very happy with the PC I built back in 2011, which has been handling everything I've thrown at it.
    However, with my desire to get Witcher 3 and other more system intensive games, I am wondering what my best choice of upgrade would be. Currently I have:
    i52500k 3.3 Ghz (I believe I OC'd it to 3.6 at least, haven't messed with that in a while)
    GTX 560Ti 1GB
    8 GB DDR3 1866

    If I wanted to throw ~$300 (give or take) at it, what would be my best bang for buck? I am assuming GPU. What is the hotness nowadays that fits that budget?
    Will the CPU cause a bottleneck? I know it is the minimum for the Witcher 3 specs...
    Is it worth throwing another 8GB of RAM in there?
    Will the upgrade likely give me a couple more good years out of the system?

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    You should only need to upgrade the video card. Go 970 or 980, depending on the deals you can find. I don't think you'll find a performance bump worthy of even another 4GB of RAM.

    Cabezoneemp123
  • IncindiumIncindium Registered User regular
    edited June 2015
    I've been very happy with the PC I built back in 2011, which has been handling everything I've thrown at it.
    However, with my desire to get Witcher 3 and other more system intensive games, I am wondering what my best choice of upgrade would be. Currently I have:
    i52500k 3.3 Ghz (I believe I OC'd it to 3.6 at least, haven't messed with that in a while)
    GTX 560Ti 1GB
    8 GB DDR3 1866

    If I wanted to throw ~$300 (give or take) at it, what would be my best bang for buck? I am assuming GPU. What is the hotness nowadays that fits that budget?
    Will the CPU cause a bottleneck? I know it is the minimum for the Witcher 3 specs...
    Is it worth throwing another 8GB of RAM in there?
    Will the upgrade likely give me a couple more good years out of the system?

    A GTX 970 might be all you need but it would eat your whole budget. If you don't have a SSD you could go with a GTX 960 and a SSD for that budget. I personally would want 16GB of RAM in my system but it's not totally required as long as you shutdown Chrome or other memory hogs before gaming.

    Incindium on
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  • CabezoneCabezone Registered User regular
    edited June 2015
    If the choice is between 970 or a 960 and ssd, I'd go 970. I've got 8 gigs of ram and rarely see my system use more than 6gb.

    EDIT: I'm generally not going to have anything mroe memory intensive going than a browser open while gaming tho.

    Cabezone on
    djmitchella
  • emp123emp123 Registered User regular
    I've been very happy with the PC I built back in 2011, which has been handling everything I've thrown at it.
    However, with my desire to get Witcher 3 and other more system intensive games, I am wondering what my best choice of upgrade would be. Currently I have:
    i52500k 3.3 Ghz (I believe I OC'd it to 3.6 at least, haven't messed with that in a while)
    GTX 560Ti 1GB
    8 GB DDR3 1866

    If I wanted to throw ~$300 (give or take) at it, what would be my best bang for buck? I am assuming GPU. What is the hotness nowadays that fits that budget?
    Will the CPU cause a bottleneck? I know it is the minimum for the Witcher 3 specs...
    Is it worth throwing another 8GB of RAM in there?
    Will the upgrade likely give me a couple more good years out of the system?

    If your issue is load times, SSD. You can get a 500GB Samsung Evo 850 for about $175-200. If your issue is frame rate, I'd get a GTX 970. Ideally I'd get both.

    For what it's worth, I run a 2600k and a 970 and a SSD and don't have any frame rate issues. Granted I haven't tried Witcher 3 yet but GTA 5 runs fine.

    chasmdjmitchella
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    there's no batman + witcher 3 bundle with the 980 ti. life is bad.

    Delmain
  • IncindiumIncindium Registered User regular
    Actually I think the Witcher 3 deal ended May 31st on all the Nvidia cards. Looks like you still will get Batman though with a purchase.

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    Nintendo ID: Incindium
    PSN: IncindiumX
  • UreshiiAkumaUreshiiAkuma Registered User regular
    I forgot to mention, I did slip an SSD in at some point, so load times aren't an issue.

    So it sounds like the GTX 970 would be a good way to spend my budget. It is easy enough to get another 8GB of RAM in a few months if I find I need it. I usually don't run anything too memory intensive in the background.

    I noticed the Witcher3 + Batman deal is down to just Batman as well. Ah well, I didn't even know it was going on until I started googling nvidia cards today, so no big loss. And I still want Batman, so that's not so bad!

  • DelmainDelmain Registered User regular
    Welp, my desire to get a new video card has evaporated.

  • UreshiiAkumaUreshiiAkuma Registered User regular
    Aaaand GTX 970 orderd! Now to see if my wife makes me wait to install it until Father's Day :)

    MugsleyBouwsTemp123
  • CabezoneCabezone Registered User regular
    edited June 2015
    I think that deal was so that if you bought a 980 or 970 right before the price drop due to the 980ti you wouldn't feel jobbed.

    Cabezone on
  • ErlkönigErlkönig Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    I need some blue ray software. I'm willing to pay even, I've read that some software lacks certain features? I'm at a complete lose, I was hoping to use VLC, but it's pretty incomplete.

    @Mmmm... Cocks..., I've used both Corel's WinDVD and CyberLink's PowerDVD. Out of those two, I vastly, VASTLY prefer PowerDVD. Corel abandoned the version of WinDVD I was using pretty quick and, because of that, WinDVD stopped playing any blu-ray more recent than Inception (or thereabouts). However, even PowerDVD has some slight issues: it'll sometimes feel like the program crashed when you initially run it (even going so far as Windows throwing up a "PowerDVD has stopped responding..." message, but if you wait for a little bit, the program will finish loading), and some movies still have playback issues (to this day, I still can't get Star Trek: Into Darkness to play past the half-way point).

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  • TetraNitroCubaneTetraNitroCubane The Djinnerator At the bottom of a bottleRegistered User regular
    edited June 2015
    So I have a chance to get my hands on an EVGA 980Ti, but it'd have to be a reference model. Does anyone know if it's a good idea to grab a reference model, or is it pretty much always recommended to go with the other special models that come out later? I'm specifically thinking of cooling, as reviews indicate that under load the reference model gets up to 83-85 °C (!), and that feels pretty high to me.

    I'm looking to replace my ailing 680, so I'll likely go with a 980Ti of some stripe. The factory overclocks on vendor-specific cards never sway me much, but the potential for a reference card to fry itself under heavy use seems worrisome.

    TetraNitroCubane on
    VuIBhrs.png
  • FoomyFoomy Registered User regular
    mid 80's for a high end gpu under load is just what they do.

    Steam Profile: FoomyFooms
  • CabezoneCabezone Registered User regular
    The reference 900's are fine.

  • BouwsTBouwsT Wanna come to a super soft birthday party? Registered User regular
    Yep, mid 80°'s isn't abnormal. It's just hotter than what an aftermarket cooler would be able to accomplish. Provided you can get some cool air to the GPU, it shouldn't be thermal throttling under load which is the main concern.

    Between you and me, Peggy, I smoked this Juul and it did UNTHINKABLE things to my mind and body...
  • TetraNitroCubaneTetraNitroCubane The Djinnerator At the bottom of a bottleRegistered User regular
    Sounds like it wouldn't be much of an issue, then. My thinking is probably outdated - I thought that it was preferable to keep GPUs under 80 °C.

    My case has some pretty nice airflow, so hopefully I won't have a problem. Thanks much for the info!

    VuIBhrs.png
    BouwsT
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