jaziekBad at everythingAnd mad about it.Registered Userregular
So I did a build for my housemate a few months ago, and everything has been working fine up until now. Today the PC unexpectedly shut down while playing SC2, and will no longer boot.
This is what I've been able to glean from him over skype, since he isn't back in town for another week or so.
It gets past the windows loading screen, then instantly BSODs and restarts.
When you go into BIOS, it looks like the SSD is not detected (which windows is installed on).
It lets you run the startup repair tool, (i.e. where is says "start windows normally / run repair tool" on the next boot when you get a crash)
Specs are:
i5 2500k , standard clock, temps are fine.
Gigabyte z68x-ud3-b3 motherboard
8 gigs corsair dominator memory 1600mhz.
OCZ vertex 2 60 gig SSD
1TB seagate barracuda HDD
gigabyte gtx570.
I've told him to test each stick of ram individually, and test the machine with and without all non-essential bits of hardware to see if it will boot. Results are pending.
He also doesn't have a windows 7 disc with him so he can't just pop it in and try to restore with that.
The thing that is confusing me is that in the BIOS it says that the SSD isn't there, but then goes on to try and boot windows from it. However given that it gets to the end of the windows load screen before dying, it makes me think that it isn't an issue with the drive itself (or at least not an issue between the drive and the motherboard).
Anything else the resident experts around here can suggest?
that sounds like a great idea. tips on putting them on? Seems like I'd just cut to size and screw...lol
If your case doesn't have removable filters (I feel bad for you son) that you can just fold some stocking fabric over and snap back into place, I guess you'll probably need to cut out some circles and tape them over your vents?
0
Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
So I did a build for my housemate a few months ago, and everything has been working fine up until now. Today the PC unexpectedly shut down while playing SC2, and will no longer boot.
This is what I've been able to glean from him over skype, since he isn't back in town for another week or so.
It gets past the windows loading screen, then instantly BSODs and restarts.
When you go into BIOS, it looks like the SSD is not detected (which windows is installed on).
It lets you run the startup repair tool, (i.e. where is says "start windows normally / run repair tool" on the next boot when you get a crash)
Specs are:
i5 2500k , standard clock, temps are fine.
Gigabyte z68x-ud3-b3 motherboard
8 gigs corsair dominator memory 1600mhz.
OCZ vertex 2 60 gig SSD
1TB seagate barracuda HDD
gigabyte gtx570.
I've told him to test each stick of ram individually, and test the machine with and without all non-essential bits of hardware to see if it will boot. Results are pending.
He also doesn't have a windows 7 disc with him so he can't just pop it in and try to restore with that.
The thing that is confusing me is that in the BIOS it says that the SSD isn't there, but then goes on to try and boot windows from it. However given that it gets to the end of the windows load screen before dying, it makes me think that it isn't an issue with the drive itself (or at least not an issue between the drive and the motherboard).
Anything else the resident experts around here can suggest?
Has he been moving the case around? Are his SATA data and power cables still securely plugged in?
I'm pretty sure my power supply is making a high pitched ringing/buzzing noise since I put this computer together in December. I'm not 100% sure it's the power supply actually, but it seems to be the closes thing I can get my ear to when trying to pinpoint it. It's the same power supply that was in my old computer so I suppose it could technically be going wrong.
What is the general go to not to expensive PSU for an i5 CPU with intend to eventually upgrade my GTX650 to something new and crazy eventually?
First off, it's not a given that your PSU is toasting itself if it's emitting a coil whine or other electrical sounds. Some PSUs are just noisy. Although if it's a new sound and hasn't always happened then I'd consider a replacement.
For anything that isn't going to be running multiple GPUs you're looking at 400-500 watt units as being plenty of juice.
0
jaziekBad at everythingAnd mad about it.Registered Userregular
So I did a build for my housemate a few months ago, and everything has been working fine up until now. Today the PC unexpectedly shut down while playing SC2, and will no longer boot.
This is what I've been able to glean from him over skype, since he isn't back in town for another week or so.
It gets past the windows loading screen, then instantly BSODs and restarts.
When you go into BIOS, it looks like the SSD is not detected (which windows is installed on).
It lets you run the startup repair tool, (i.e. where is says "start windows normally / run repair tool" on the next boot when you get a crash)
Specs are:
i5 2500k , standard clock, temps are fine.
Gigabyte z68x-ud3-b3 motherboard
8 gigs corsair dominator memory 1600mhz.
OCZ vertex 2 60 gig SSD
1TB seagate barracuda HDD
gigabyte gtx570.
I've told him to test each stick of ram individually, and test the machine with and without all non-essential bits of hardware to see if it will boot. Results are pending.
He also doesn't have a windows 7 disc with him so he can't just pop it in and try to restore with that.
The thing that is confusing me is that in the BIOS it says that the SSD isn't there, but then goes on to try and boot windows from it. However given that it gets to the end of the windows load screen before dying, it makes me think that it isn't an issue with the drive itself (or at least not an issue between the drive and the motherboard).
Anything else the resident experts around here can suggest?
Has he been moving the case around? Are his SATA data and power cables still securely plugged in?
Thats the first thing I asked him to check. Yep, they are plugged in properly.
First off, it's not a given that your PSU is toasting itself if it's emitting a coil whine or other electrical sounds. Some PSUs are just noisy. Although if it's a new sound and hasn't always happened then I'd consider a replacement.
For anything that isn't going to be running multiple GPUs you're looking at 400-500 watt units as being plenty of juice.
I'm about 90% sure it wasn't making this noise before the transplant, but this case is more open then the last so maybe I just wasn't able to hear it before. I don't even necessarily think it's a bad thing for the PSU (though, likely that it is) it's more just incredibly irritating to me to hear this constant high pitched buzz. It actually doesn't even make it all the time and I can't even figure out exactly what it causing it to make the noise. Or even completely sure it's the PSU for that matter, though I am fairly sure.
Everything safely inside the 500R, cords secured, etc.
(Warning: Big picture)
Nice! I can't wait to build my new machine. I've been just price checking and doing some research. A couple of questions I have:
What are people's thoughts on SSD? Do people use them? If so, do they use them as the Windows Partiton or a secondary drives for games?
Are CPU fans easier to install these days? Last time I built a machine, it was when you needed to use a screwdriver for leverage to get it to snap into place. Because of this bullshit, I tend to order from MWAVE and ahve them put it on. But Microcenter near me has sweet deals of CPUs every once in a while, so installing it myself might happen.
I've just heard of Triple Channel RAM? Worth it? (I'm looking at the i7's with the 1155 socket, and I'm not seeing Triple Channel for those, so this may be a non-issue).
Everything safely inside the 500R, cords secured, etc.
(Warning: Big picture)
Nice! I can't wait to build my new machine. I've been just price checking and doing some research. A couple of questions I have:
What are people's thoughts on SSD? Do people use them? If so, do they use them as the Windows Partiton or a secondary drives for games?
Are CPU fans easier to install these days? Last time I built a machine, it was when you needed to use a screwdriver for leverage to get it to snap into place. Because of this bullshit, I tend to order from MWAVE and ahve them put it on. But Microcenter near me has sweet deals of CPUs every once in a while, so installing it myself might happen.
I've just heard of Triple Channel RAM? Worth it? (I'm looking at the i7's with the 1155 socket, and I'm not seeing Triple Channel for those, so this may be a non-issue).
I just got an SSD and it takes ~20 seconds to boot into windows.
It's awesome. I only use it for windows and applications. My games are on a standard HDD and haven't suffered from this.
CPU's are very easy to install - just drop them in there [carefully] and close the latch.
Everything safely inside the 500R, cords secured, etc.
(Warning: Big picture)
Nice! I can't wait to build my new machine. I've been just price checking and doing some research. A couple of questions I have:
What are people's thoughts on SSD? Do people use them? If so, do they use them as the Windows Partiton or a secondary drives for games?
Are CPU fans easier to install these days? Last time I built a machine, it was when you needed to use a screwdriver for leverage to get it to snap into place. Because of this bullshit, I tend to order from MWAVE and ahve them put it on. But Microcenter near me has sweet deals of CPUs every once in a while, so installing it myself might happen.
I've just heard of Triple Channel RAM? Worth it? (I'm looking at the i7's with the 1155 socket, and I'm not seeing Triple Channel for those, so this may be a non-issue).
I just got an SSD and it takes ~20 seconds to boot into windows.
It's awesome. I only use it for windows and applications. My games are on a standard HDD and haven't suffered from this.
CPU's are very easy to install - just drop them in there [carefully] and close the latch.
Wow, that booting into windows in 20 seconds sounds delicious.
And its not the CPU i'm worried about installing its the fan. Last time I did it, you put the grease on, put the fan on, close one of the metal hinges on the fan, then use a screw driver to pulldown the second hinge and snap it into place.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
Everything safely inside the 500R, cords secured, etc.
(Warning: Big picture)
Nice! I can't wait to build my new machine. I've been just price checking and doing some research. A couple of questions I have:
What are people's thoughts on SSD? Do people use them? If so, do they use them as the Windows Partiton or a secondary drives for games?
Are CPU fans easier to install these days? Last time I built a machine, it was when you needed to use a screwdriver for leverage to get it to snap into place. Because of this bullshit, I tend to order from MWAVE and ahve them put it on. But Microcenter near me has sweet deals of CPUs every once in a while, so installing it myself might happen.
I've just heard of Triple Channel RAM? Worth it? (I'm looking at the i7's with the 1155 socket, and I'm not seeing Triple Channel for those, so this may be a non-issue).
See that little silver thing on the right, below the larger HDD? That's an SSD Yes they are 100% worth it. I use mine as my Windows partition, with a couple of games I play all the time and a few of my commonly used programs that I want to load fast. My entire Users structure (My Documents, My Music, etc) is on my 1TB spindle drive.
Socket 1155 isn't a triple channel socket, it's dual channel. The innards you are looking at there is a dual channel i5 1155 setup with 16GB of RAM (4x4GB).
Everything safely inside the 500R, cords secured, etc.
(Warning: Big picture)
Nice! I can't wait to build my new machine. I've been just price checking and doing some research. A couple of questions I have:
What are people's thoughts on SSD? Do people use them? If so, do they use them as the Windows Partiton or a secondary drives for games?
Are CPU fans easier to install these days? Last time I built a machine, it was when you needed to use a screwdriver for leverage to get it to snap into place. Because of this bullshit, I tend to order from MWAVE and ahve them put it on. But Microcenter near me has sweet deals of CPUs every once in a while, so installing it myself might happen.
I've just heard of Triple Channel RAM? Worth it? (I'm looking at the i7's with the 1155 socket, and I'm not seeing Triple Channel for those, so this may be a non-issue).
I just got an SSD and it takes ~20 seconds to boot into windows.
It's awesome. I only use it for windows and applications. My games are on a standard HDD and haven't suffered from this.
CPU's are very easy to install - just drop them in there [carefully] and close the latch.
Wow, that booting into windows in 20 seconds sounds delicious.
And its not the CPU i'm worried about installing its the fan. Last time I did it, you put the grease on, put the fan on, close one of the metal hinges on the fan, then use a screw driver to pulldown the second hinge and snap it into place.
Ugh how did I read CPU instead of CPU fan?
I have the Cooler Master Hyper 212+, and honestly it was a bit of a pain to install and a second set of hands will be a definite plus.
Not sure about stock fans, though I'm willing to bet it's much less of a pain.
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
The stock i5 fan is pretty easy to put on. If your like me and never plan to overclock, than the Hyper 212+ is just obnoxious overkill. Unless you regularly run your computer in area with the ambient temperature of a blast furnace, it's just a huge piece of metal in your case you don't need. You don't have to use stock if you aren't comfortable with that, but you also don't need a monstrosity (again, unless you plan to OC).
I'm now leaning towards going to Microcenter and getting an i7, with a SSD for my Windows Partition. This won't go down for another month and half or so, but man its going to be sweet.
Update: 6870 installed. LA Noire is not a chugfest now, MW:LL is consistently smoother, and I can crank Witcher 2 graphic quality and it still runs smooth. Victoly.
I'm now leaning towards going to Microcenter and getting an i7, with a SSD for my Windows Partition. This won't go down for another month and half or so, but man its going to be sweet.
Unless you're doing something computationally intensive that can take advantage of the i7 (gaming doesn't fall into that category), you're much better off getting an i5-2500k.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
I'm now leaning towards going to Microcenter and getting an i7, with a SSD for my Windows Partition. This won't go down for another month and half or so, but man its going to be sweet.
Unless you're doing something computationally intensive that can take advantage of the i7 (gaming doesn't fall into that category), you're much better off getting an i5-2500k.
Seconded. I have the i5-2500k and it's a beast mode processor. Unless you have one of the few applications that can actually take advantage of hyper-threading, the i7 really just gains you higher base clock speed and a bit more cache. None of which the average user is going to notice on a daily basis. I'd save yourself the 70-80 bucks and get a 2500k. If you don't plan to OC at all, ever, you can get the base 2500 for about 25 bucks cheaper than that.
(Even though I never plan to OC, the reason I have a 2500K is that when I upgraded to Sandy Bridge, the K's were all you could get in retail channels, and I needed a CPU right then).
(Thanks for the kind folks in the T&G forums for redirecting this post!)
I'm getting about $1500 back in my tax return this year, and I'd like to build a new gaming rig. I figured I'd post the possible specs/choices to people who know, and see if anyone would care to criticize or comment on things. I haven't put a gaming rig together in a couple of years, so I may have missed something.
A couple of points:
-I'd like to keep the actual tower to no more than $1200 in cost.
-I'm generally loyal to Intel & Nvidia
-I'm linking from Newegg because I didn't look up the components elsewhere (i.e. amazon) yet.
(Thanks for the kind folks in the T&G forums for redirecting this post!)
I'm getting about $1500 back in my tax return this year, and I'd like to build a new gaming rig. I figured I'd post the possible specs/choices to people who know, and see if anyone would care to criticize or comment on things. I haven't put a gaming rig together in a couple of years, so I may have missed something.
A couple of points:
-I'd like to keep the actual tower to no more than $1200 in cost.
-I'm generally loyal to Intel & Nvidia
-I'm linking from Newegg because I didn't look up the components elsewhere (i.e. amazon) yet.
Why not wait for the Ivy Bridge processors that'll be out fairly soon?
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
edited April 2012
Ivy Bridge is still at least two months away and the performance gains aren't so monstrous as to constitute a reason to wait if you need a system right now. It's a tick, not a tock, so it's just a die shrink of Sandy Bridge, it's not a new architecture (that's Haswell, which is at least a year off).
@mato-andrew: Do you have a reason for the 2600k, beyond "Oh, I want the best"? Only certain applications can even take advantage of the HT, and you'll get better performance per dollar out of a 2500k with the same overclocking headroom the 2600k has. You can probably save 80-90 bucks off your build.
In terms of waiting though, I certainly would wait until May to for the GTX660 to come out. It's going to be around the same price point as the 560 on it's release, but it's going to be a huge performance upgrade. Plus the savings from going 2500k instead of 2600k would cover the cost difference. Just a thought.
Why not wait for the Ivy Bridge processors that'll be out fairly soon?
Because, frankly, this is the first I've heard of them! XD
After googling, I may get one, but they seem to be a little expensive for what ultimately amounts to a mild revision. I'm already considering dropping down to the i5-2500k anyhow.
They're gathered like wolves on the boardwalk below, howling for answers no wolves can know!
wait has a 660 been announced (or any 600 cards between the rebranded bottom level ones and the 680?)
Define announced? No, you can't go to the Nvidia website and see it listed...but we know the GK107 is coming (this will be the 670 and 650 chip), and the GK106 is coming as well (this will be the 660/640 chip)....but the wheels are spinning on both chips. Reports are that yields of both are "good enough" for a launch. We also "know" from internal Nvidia memos the 670 and 650 are coming at the end of April. Since the GK107 was spun up first, this makes sense. One can pretty easily extrapolate then that the GK106 cards will ship sometime in May. This is the relatively decent rumor out there right now.
(For those interested, the 680 is the GK104, which the 690 will be as well, although x2 of course).
Why not wait for the Ivy Bridge processors that'll be out fairly soon?
Because, frankly, this is the first I've heard of them! XD
After googling, I may get one, but they seem to be a little expensive for what ultimately amounts to a mild revision. I'm already considering dropping down to the i5-2500k anyhow.
To be fair, it's more than a "mild revision", they are going from 32nm to 22nm, and using a completely different transistor technology (3-D planar)...but yes, the microarchitecture is basically Sandy Bridge++, and the performance gains just aren't that legendary. That said, Ivy Bridge is a HUGE and VERY IMPORTANT step forward for micro processors. In ten or twelve years we'll look back on Ivy Bridge as having extended the life of silicon a decade or so. Without IB, Haswell, Broadwell, Skylake and Skymont wouldn't be possible (Skylake and Skymont being stupidly small 14nm and 10nm architectures, respectively).
(Thanks for the kind folks in the T&G forums for redirecting this post!)
I'm getting about $1500 back in my tax return this year, and I'd like to build a new gaming rig. I figured I'd post the possible specs/choices to people who know, and see if anyone would care to criticize or comment on things. I haven't put a gaming rig together in a couple of years, so I may have missed something.
A couple of points:
-I'd like to keep the actual tower to no more than $1200 in cost.
-I'm generally loyal to Intel & Nvidia
-I'm linking from Newegg because I didn't look up the components elsewhere (i.e. amazon) yet.
I'd go Caviar Black instead to green to get the 7200 rpm speed drive at minimum. Optimally I'd go with an SSD for a boot drive in addition if you want to stick with the green drive.
If you kept with what you posted disk speed would be by far the slowest component of the build bottlenecking everything else.
(Thanks for the kind folks in the T&G forums for redirecting this post!)
I'm getting about $1500 back in my tax return this year, and I'd like to build a new gaming rig. I figured I'd post the possible specs/choices to people who know, and see if anyone would care to criticize or comment on things. I haven't put a gaming rig together in a couple of years, so I may have missed something.
A couple of points:
-I'd like to keep the actual tower to no more than $1200 in cost.
-I'm generally loyal to Intel & Nvidia
-I'm linking from Newegg because I didn't look up the components elsewhere (i.e. amazon) yet.
I'd go Caviar Black instead to green to get the 7200 rpm speed drive at minimum. Optimally I'd go with an SSD for a boot drive in addition if you want to stick with the green drive.
If you kept with what you posted disk speed would be by far the slowest component of the build bottlenecking everything else.
Oh yes definitely. I was running my system off a 1TB caviar green, and just recently switched to an SSD and it makes a world of differences.
Caviar greens are pretty slow to have an OS on. For games it's fine, but you'll be waiting around forever for Windows to boot #SSDsnob
I'd go Caviar Black instead to green to get the 7200 rpm speed drive at minimum. Optimally I'd go with an SSD for a boot drive in addition if you want to stick with the green drive.
If you kept with what you posted disk speed would be by far the slowest component of the build bottlenecking everything else.
A couple of years ago, I did some research into SSDs, and at that time, SSDs didn't provide an appreciable increase in speeds over a 7200rpm HDD. If they're significantly better than before, then I may go with an SSD and an HDD.
They're gathered like wolves on the boardwalk below, howling for answers no wolves can know!
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
I'd go Caviar Black instead to green to get the 7200 rpm speed drive at minimum. Optimally I'd go with an SSD for a boot drive in addition if you want to stick with the green drive.
If you kept with what you posted disk speed would be by far the slowest component of the build bottlenecking everything else.
A couple of years ago, I did some research into SSDs, and at that time, SSDs didn't provide an appreciable increase in speeds over a 7200rpm HDD. If they're significantly better than before, then I may go with an SSD and an HDD.
Do what? I'm not sure what research you were doing, but even a few years ago, that wasn't true. SSD's have seek times that are orders of magnitude faster than spindle HDD's. If anything, a few years ago SATA bus speeds were not fast enough to support SSD's, which is why they may have been comparable. Now with SATA 2/3 3.0/6.0 GB/s bus speeds, only SSD's can even begin to saturate modern SATA links.
The main drawback to SSD's is size vs. cost. You are going to pay way more per megabyte for an SSD, but you'll make up for that cost in raw performance. This is why most of us suggest having an SSD as a boot/Windows/everyday applications drive, and a regular high capacity spindle HDD for data storage...music, pictures, most games, etc.
This was back when the bottleneck was at the SouthBridge, not at the drive. This was 2008 or so, which makes me feel old. Either way, you're right; modern SSDs are basically a requirement for the sort of performance I'm looking for.
They're gathered like wolves on the boardwalk below, howling for answers no wolves can know!
0
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
Right, the south bridge being the home of the SATA controller. That makes some sense. In 2008 I can imagine lower end boards with SATA 1.5gb/s and south bridges engineered to deal with the throughput of regular drives would have bottlenecking on SSD's.
Because of Newegg's shipping error, literally the only thing I'm waiting on is the thermal paste. Which is funny, because it's such a small thing and yet I can't put anything together until I have it (can't put the motherboard in the case because this CPU cooler uses a backplate). So all these parts are just kinda sitting here in a pile.
Ivy Bridge is still at least two months away and the performance gains aren't so monstrous as to constitute a reason to wait if you need a system right now. It's a tick, not a tock, so it's just a die shrink of Sandy Bridge, it's not a new architecture (that's Haswell, which is at least a year off).
@mato-andrew: Do you have a reason for the 2600k, beyond "Oh, I want the best"? Only certain applications can even take advantage of the HT, and you'll get better performance per dollar out of a 2500k with the same overclocking headroom the 2600k has. You can probably save 80-90 bucks off your build.
In terms of waiting though, I certainly would wait until May to for the GTX660 to come out. It's going to be around the same price point as the 560 on it's release, but it's going to be a huge performance upgrade. Plus the savings from going 2500k instead of 2600k would cover the cost difference. Just a thought.
If you are near a microcenter you can get an i5-2500k for $180 and a 17-2600k for $200...im upgrading next paycheck and was leaning towards the i7...its only $20 more...
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
edited April 2012
I am pretty sure that is not a forever deal. Newegg still has the 2600K listed at 309, meaning the price hasn't been dropped. I guess if you can get that microcenter deal, the 2600K makes sense...but if you are ordering at "normal" prices, the 2500K is a much better value.
(Newegg prices: 2600K 319, 2500K 219. So yeah, at normal prices, it's a hundred dollar difference).
Posts
that sounds like a great idea. tips on putting them on? Seems like I'd just cut to size and screw...lol
This is what I've been able to glean from him over skype, since he isn't back in town for another week or so.
It gets past the windows loading screen, then instantly BSODs and restarts.
When you go into BIOS, it looks like the SSD is not detected (which windows is installed on).
It lets you run the startup repair tool, (i.e. where is says "start windows normally / run repair tool" on the next boot when you get a crash)
Specs are:
i5 2500k , standard clock, temps are fine.
Gigabyte z68x-ud3-b3 motherboard
8 gigs corsair dominator memory 1600mhz.
OCZ vertex 2 60 gig SSD
1TB seagate barracuda HDD
gigabyte gtx570.
I've told him to test each stick of ram individually, and test the machine with and without all non-essential bits of hardware to see if it will boot. Results are pending.
He also doesn't have a windows 7 disc with him so he can't just pop it in and try to restore with that.
The thing that is confusing me is that in the BIOS it says that the SSD isn't there, but then goes on to try and boot windows from it. However given that it gets to the end of the windows load screen before dying, it makes me think that it isn't an issue with the drive itself (or at least not an issue between the drive and the motherboard).
Anything else the resident experts around here can suggest?
If your case doesn't have removable filters (I feel bad for you son) that you can just fold some stocking fabric over and snap back into place, I guess you'll probably need to cut out some circles and tape them over your vents?
Has he been moving the case around? Are his SATA data and power cables still securely plugged in?
What is the general go to not to expensive PSU for an i5 CPU with intend to eventually upgrade my GTX650 to something new and crazy eventually?
Steam: Car1gt // Tumblr // Facebook // Twitter
For anything that isn't going to be running multiple GPUs you're looking at 400-500 watt units as being plenty of juice.
Thats the first thing I asked him to check. Yep, they are plugged in properly.
(Warning: Big picture)
I'm about 90% sure it wasn't making this noise before the transplant, but this case is more open then the last so maybe I just wasn't able to hear it before. I don't even necessarily think it's a bad thing for the PSU (though, likely that it is) it's more just incredibly irritating to me to hear this constant high pitched buzz. It actually doesn't even make it all the time and I can't even figure out exactly what it causing it to make the noise. Or even completely sure it's the PSU for that matter, though I am fairly sure.
Steam: Car1gt // Tumblr // Facebook // Twitter
Nice! I can't wait to build my new machine. I've been just price checking and doing some research. A couple of questions I have:
What are people's thoughts on SSD? Do people use them? If so, do they use them as the Windows Partiton or a secondary drives for games?
Are CPU fans easier to install these days? Last time I built a machine, it was when you needed to use a screwdriver for leverage to get it to snap into place. Because of this bullshit, I tend to order from MWAVE and ahve them put it on. But Microcenter near me has sweet deals of CPUs every once in a while, so installing it myself might happen.
I've just heard of Triple Channel RAM? Worth it? (I'm looking at the i7's with the 1155 socket, and I'm not seeing Triple Channel for those, so this may be a non-issue).
the cpu
the mother board
To my knowledge the triple ram was so last year
I just got an SSD and it takes ~20 seconds to boot into windows.
It's awesome. I only use it for windows and applications. My games are on a standard HDD and haven't suffered from this.
CPU's are very easy to install - just drop them in there [carefully] and close the latch.
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Wow, that booting into windows in 20 seconds sounds delicious.
And its not the CPU i'm worried about installing its the fan. Last time I did it, you put the grease on, put the fan on, close one of the metal hinges on the fan, then use a screw driver to pulldown the second hinge and snap it into place.
See that little silver thing on the right, below the larger HDD? That's an SSD
Socket 1155 isn't a triple channel socket, it's dual channel. The innards you are looking at there is a dual channel i5 1155 setup with 16GB of RAM (4x4GB).
Triple-channel RAM is an artifact of the LGA1366 socket. For LGA1155, you want (a) dual-channel kit(s).
And certainly buy your processor from Microcenter if you have one nearby.
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MTG Arena: Snow_Crash#34179
Battle.net: Snowcrash#1873
Ugh how did I read CPU instead of CPU fan?
I have the Cooler Master Hyper 212+, and honestly it was a bit of a pain to install and a second set of hands will be a definite plus.
Not sure about stock fans, though I'm willing to bet it's much less of a pain.
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I'm now leaning towards going to Microcenter and getting an i7, with a SSD for my Windows Partition. This won't go down for another month and half or so, but man its going to be sweet.
Unless you're doing something computationally intensive that can take advantage of the i7 (gaming doesn't fall into that category), you're much better off getting an i5-2500k.
Seconded. I have the i5-2500k and it's a beast mode processor. Unless you have one of the few applications that can actually take advantage of hyper-threading, the i7 really just gains you higher base clock speed and a bit more cache. None of which the average user is going to notice on a daily basis. I'd save yourself the 70-80 bucks and get a 2500k. If you don't plan to OC at all, ever, you can get the base 2500 for about 25 bucks cheaper than that.
(Even though I never plan to OC, the reason I have a 2500K is that when I upgraded to Sandy Bridge, the K's were all you could get in retail channels, and I needed a CPU right then).
I'm getting about $1500 back in my tax return this year, and I'd like to build a new gaming rig. I figured I'd post the possible specs/choices to people who know, and see if anyone would care to criticize or comment on things. I haven't put a gaming rig together in a couple of years, so I may have missed something.
A couple of points:
-I'd like to keep the actual tower to no more than $1200 in cost.
-I'm generally loyal to Intel & Nvidia
-I'm linking from Newegg because I didn't look up the components elsewhere (i.e. amazon) yet.
Here are the choices so far:
case: LIAN LI PC-9F (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112304
ps: 600W OCZ modxstream (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017
mobo: ASUS P8Z68 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131792
cpu: Intel Core i7-2600k (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070
gpu: Asus GTX 560 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121446
ram: DDR3 SDRAM 1600 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220558
hdd: 500 gb caviar green (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136358
dvd: 12 BD-R (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136241
Why not wait for the Ivy Bridge processors that'll be out fairly soon?
@mato-andrew: Do you have a reason for the 2600k, beyond "Oh, I want the best"? Only certain applications can even take advantage of the HT, and you'll get better performance per dollar out of a 2500k with the same overclocking headroom the 2600k has. You can probably save 80-90 bucks off your build.
In terms of waiting though, I certainly would wait until May to for the GTX660 to come out. It's going to be around the same price point as the 560 on it's release, but it's going to be a huge performance upgrade. Plus the savings from going 2500k instead of 2600k would cover the cost difference. Just a thought.
Because, frankly, this is the first I've heard of them! XD
After googling, I may get one, but they seem to be a little expensive for what ultimately amounts to a mild revision. I'm already considering dropping down to the i5-2500k anyhow.
Define announced? No, you can't go to the Nvidia website and see it listed...but we know the GK107 is coming (this will be the 670 and 650 chip), and the GK106 is coming as well (this will be the 660/640 chip)....but the wheels are spinning on both chips. Reports are that yields of both are "good enough" for a launch. We also "know" from internal Nvidia memos the 670 and 650 are coming at the end of April. Since the GK107 was spun up first, this makes sense. One can pretty easily extrapolate then that the GK106 cards will ship sometime in May. This is the relatively decent rumor out there right now.
(For those interested, the 680 is the GK104, which the 690 will be as well, although x2 of course).
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To be fair, it's more than a "mild revision", they are going from 32nm to 22nm, and using a completely different transistor technology (3-D planar)...but yes, the microarchitecture is basically Sandy Bridge++, and the performance gains just aren't that legendary. That said, Ivy Bridge is a HUGE and VERY IMPORTANT step forward for micro processors. In ten or twelve years we'll look back on Ivy Bridge as having extended the life of silicon a decade or so. Without IB, Haswell, Broadwell, Skylake and Skymont wouldn't be possible (Skylake and Skymont being stupidly small 14nm and 10nm architectures, respectively).
I'd go Caviar Black instead to green to get the 7200 rpm speed drive at minimum. Optimally I'd go with an SSD for a boot drive in addition if you want to stick with the green drive.
If you kept with what you posted disk speed would be by far the slowest component of the build bottlenecking everything else.
Nintendo ID: Incindium
PSN: IncindiumX
Oh yes definitely. I was running my system off a 1TB caviar green, and just recently switched to an SSD and it makes a world of differences.
Caviar greens are pretty slow to have an OS on. For games it's fine, but you'll be waiting around forever for Windows to boot #SSDsnob
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Really, with the price of SSD's these days, you really owe it to yourself to have an SSD boot drive. And yes, I too #SSDsnob regularly.
A couple of years ago, I did some research into SSDs, and at that time, SSDs didn't provide an appreciable increase in speeds over a 7200rpm HDD. If they're significantly better than before, then I may go with an SSD and an HDD.
Do what? I'm not sure what research you were doing, but even a few years ago, that wasn't true. SSD's have seek times that are orders of magnitude faster than spindle HDD's. If anything, a few years ago SATA bus speeds were not fast enough to support SSD's, which is why they may have been comparable. Now with SATA 2/3 3.0/6.0 GB/s bus speeds, only SSD's can even begin to saturate modern SATA links.
The main drawback to SSD's is size vs. cost. You are going to pay way more per megabyte for an SSD, but you'll make up for that cost in raw performance. This is why most of us suggest having an SSD as a boot/Windows/everyday applications drive, and a regular high capacity spindle HDD for data storage...music, pictures, most games, etc.
If you are near a microcenter you can get an i5-2500k for $180 and a 17-2600k for $200...im upgrading next paycheck and was leaning towards the i7...its only $20 more...
(Newegg prices: 2600K 319, 2500K 219. So yeah, at normal prices, it's a hundred dollar difference).