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[Computer Build Thread] - Bemoan the passing of the old thread, but celebrate the new!

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Posts

  • mere_immortalmere_immortal So tasty!Registered User regular
    Well I thought about grabbing the OCZ because it is modular but it's also cheaper than a lot of the other 650W options.

    After reading that stuff though I might go for a Corsair or Seasonic instead.

    Steam: mere_immortal - PSN: mere_immortal - XBL: lego pencil - Wii U: mimmortal - 3DS: 1521-7234-1642 - Bordgamegeek: mere_immortal
  • AlectharAlecthar Alan Shore We're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered User regular
    Oh man, it's like Silverstone is inside my damn brain over there at CES.

    Wow, I wish there was a Mini-ITX HTPC case that looked and worked more like the ML03B does...

    Silverstone_ML05.png

    Huh, well I really wish there were a version of the SG09 that had some fucking class...

    Silverstone_SG10.png

  • Day of the BearDay of the Bear The Qun demandsRegistered User regular
    edited January 2013
    I need that top case right now

    Day of the Bear on
    m6eoUgQ.jpg
  • AlectharAlecthar Alan Shore We're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered User regular
    I need that top case right now

    Agreed. It's essentially exactly what I would want for a Mini-ITX HTPC. Gives you the option of using an expansion card (half-height) for discrete graphics or a TV Tuner. SFX PSU so I don't have to rely on an external adapter, and (given that it's a Silverstone case) I assume there's room for a slot-loading optical drive in there somewhere if you want it.

  • Day of the BearDay of the Bear The Qun demandsRegistered User regular
    I definitely see myself putting an FM2 build in that case sometime in the future

    m6eoUgQ.jpg
  • AlectharAlecthar Alan Shore We're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered User regular
    I definitely see myself putting an FM2 build in that case sometime in the future

    As soon as someone releases a Mini-ITX board for the chipset that doesn't set itself on fire you mean.

  • Day of the BearDay of the Bear The Qun demandsRegistered User regular
    pffffffffft

    details

    m6eoUgQ.jpg
  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xLWA

    Anyone have any opinions on that for our workstations we're putting together? We have some beefy multicore requirements and require at least 4 gb of ram on one of the softwares we use.

    The 4gb monster that was equivalent from HP/Dell was roughly $1400 after shipping (before the support contract). The dual vga/dvi ramped up the price about $400 for some reason from their base options.

    bowen on
    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • Mei HikariMei Hikari Registered User regular
    120GB of hard drive space is enough? I'm guessing you redirect the docs and don't keep an offline files cache?

  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    Yup. Nothing is stored locally except the 4-5 programs we use.

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • EtheaEthea Registered User regular
    I would go with more memory since it is so cheap. If you are compiling it would be worth looking at xeon vs i5.

  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    No compiling for these people. Strictly medical billing software they use.

    But they open a lot of sessions. They're using a 512 machine at the moment so I have a feeling 8 gb is more than enough! If we can keep it under $600 I'd consider it.

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • EtheaEthea Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    bowen wrote: »
    No compiling for these people. Strictly medical billing software they use.

    But they open a lot of sessions. They're using a 512 machine at the moment so I have a feeling 8 gb is more than enough! If we can keep it under $600 I'd consider it.

    Hmm if they are pulling all data off the network, it might be useful to spend money on a real network card. Gain ability to do real network diagnostics, better remote wake-on / boot, and could reduce cpu overhead.

    Ethea on
  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    I have a few here for gigabit that I can pop in if need be.

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • mere_immortalmere_immortal So tasty!Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    Man never thought it would take so long to choose a PSU. Right here's what I've got to be bought in 2 weeks

    http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/xUJ5

    And this HD.

    The RAM is probably overkill but after only having 2GB for 7 years I feel like splurging. Ditto with the cooler but it's supposed to be super quiet which is why I picked the case. Ideas, thoughts, changes?

    mere_immortal on
    Steam: mere_immortal - PSN: mere_immortal - XBL: lego pencil - Wii U: mimmortal - 3DS: 1521-7234-1642 - Bordgamegeek: mere_immortal
  • TheCanManTheCanMan GT: Gasman122009 JerseyRegistered User regular
    My new Spinpoint just came. HDDs either work or they don't, right? My mobo is currently at Gigabyte for repair and I don't know if I'll get it back before the 30 day return period is over, but I was thinking about taking it into work and plugging it in just to make sure it spins up ok and maybe copy something to it just to see it work. There's aren't any problems with HDDs that only show up after extended use, right? If it spins up and I can get to it in My Computer, I'm good to go right?

  • AlectharAlecthar Alan Shore We're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered User regular
    TheCanMan wrote: »
    My new Spinpoint just came. HDDs either work or they don't, right? My mobo is currently at Gigabyte for repair and I don't know if I'll get it back before the 30 day return period is over, but I was thinking about taking it into work and plugging it in just to make sure it spins up ok and maybe copy something to it just to see it work. There's aren't any problems with HDDs that only show up after extended use, right? If it spins up and I can get to it in My Computer, I'm good to go right?

    For the most part, yes. If there's no horrible clicking and grinding, you should be okay. HDDs can experience degradation and increased errors/issues over time, but that's really more a consequence of use and/or abuse. If it's a borked drive, you should know pretty quickly.

  • AlectharAlecthar Alan Shore We're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered User regular
    bowen wrote: »
    http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xLWA

    Anyone have any opinions on that for our workstations we're putting together? We have some beefy multicore requirements and require at least 4 gb of ram on one of the softwares we use.

    The 4gb monster that was equivalent from HP/Dell was roughly $1400 after shipping (before the support contract). The dual vga/dvi ramped up the price about $400 for some reason from their base options.

    Do you need dual DVI, or is 1 DVI, 1 VGA acceptable? Basically any motherboard with a DVI and VGA port on it should support 2 monitors running off the built-in GPU, you can probably save a bit of money going with a slightly slower (.1 GHZ) CPU with the iGPU, then running the monitors off that. Whether the HD2500 GPU that's built-in offers sufficient performance for your/their purposes is the question.

    Regardless, I think you're better off on Micro-ATX boards. For example, this ASRock board and this Rosewill case. Obviously the LEDs aren't super business-like, but you can rip them out or replace the fans fairly cheaply, and I think the smaller size is helpful when you're looking at a business environment.

    Finally, Sandforce drives are much more stable now that most of the firmware issues have been resolved, but they still aren't the best around in that category, and I imagine that's something that matters for a workstation. With that said, Kingston is a solid brand for Sandforce drives, but I'd lean toward something like a Crucial M4 or a Plextor M5S (or a Samsung 830 if you can find any).

  • emp123emp123 Registered User regular
    Alecthar wrote: »
    TheCanMan wrote: »
    My new Spinpoint just came. HDDs either work or they don't, right? My mobo is currently at Gigabyte for repair and I don't know if I'll get it back before the 30 day return period is over, but I was thinking about taking it into work and plugging it in just to make sure it spins up ok and maybe copy something to it just to see it work. There's aren't any problems with HDDs that only show up after extended use, right? If it spins up and I can get to it in My Computer, I'm good to go right?

    For the most part, yes. If there's no horrible clicking and grinding, you should be okay. HDDs can experience degradation and increased errors/issues over time, but that's really more a consequence of use and/or abuse. If it's a borked drive, you should know pretty quickly.

    So say one of my hard drives is clicking....and has been for about 4 years now...how worried should i be?

  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    Alecthar wrote: »
    bowen wrote: »
    http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xLWA

    Anyone have any opinions on that for our workstations we're putting together? We have some beefy multicore requirements and require at least 4 gb of ram on one of the softwares we use.

    The 4gb monster that was equivalent from HP/Dell was roughly $1400 after shipping (before the support contract). The dual vga/dvi ramped up the price about $400 for some reason from their base options.

    Do you need dual DVI, or is 1 DVI, 1 VGA acceptable? Basically any motherboard with a DVI and VGA port on it should support 2 monitors running off the built-in GPU, you can probably save a bit of money going with a slightly slower (.1 GHZ) CPU with the iGPU, then running the monitors off that. Whether the HD2500 GPU that's built-in offers sufficient performance for your/their purposes is the question.

    Regardless, I think you're better off on Micro-ATX boards. For example, this ASRock board and this Rosewill case. Obviously the LEDs aren't super business-like, but you can rip them out or replace the fans fairly cheaply, and I think the smaller size is helpful when you're looking at a business environment.

    Finally, Sandforce drives are much more stable now that most of the firmware issues have been resolved, but they still aren't the best around in that category, and I imagine that's something that matters for a workstation. With that said, Kingston is a solid brand for Sandforce drives, but I'd lean toward something like a Crucial M4 or a Plextor M5S (or a Samsung 830 if you can find any).

    Yeah VGA is acceptable as well. I'll respec based on this.

    I'd really like a thin tower, similar to the dell optiplex 390s, any recommendations on that? The only reason I went with the corsair is because wiring everything is sometimes a pain in the dick on smaller cases. Graphics wise, at the moment it's just RDP and some winform based GUI for billing. Not sure if it'll be expanded to need graphicals but I doubt it. I just found a good but cheap GPU there.

    bowen on
    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    Also, technically, I'd prefer two VGA, but it's getting harder to find video cards that support that.

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • DjeetDjeet Registered User regular
    emp123 wrote: »
    Alecthar wrote: »
    TheCanMan wrote: »
    My new Spinpoint just came. HDDs either work or they don't, right? My mobo is currently at Gigabyte for repair and I don't know if I'll get it back before the 30 day return period is over, but I was thinking about taking it into work and plugging it in just to make sure it spins up ok and maybe copy something to it just to see it work. There's aren't any problems with HDDs that only show up after extended use, right? If it spins up and I can get to it in My Computer, I'm good to go right?

    For the most part, yes. If there's no horrible clicking and grinding, you should be okay. HDDs can experience degradation and increased errors/issues over time, but that's really more a consequence of use and/or abuse. If it's a borked drive, you should know pretty quickly.

    So say one of my hard drives is clicking....and has been for about 4 years now...how worried should i be?

    I would be prepared to permanently lose that data at any time (back up all the important shit on it and if you're going to use it then just for stuff you don't mind losing). It could indeed work fine for years more, but you cannot rely on it to.

  • AlectharAlecthar Alan Shore We're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered User regular
    Yeah, 2 VGA is pretty unusual these days. I seem to remember there was a time when cables with DVI on one end and VGA on the other were sold, if that's not something I conjured up out of the ether than that would at least spare you the additional hassle of an adapter.

    Case-wise, do you mean something like this? I don't know much about the quality of the case materials themselves, and most of the ones available on Newegg in that rough form-factor (categorized as "Micro-ATX Slim") aren't made by companies known for their exacting commitment to quality, but it's not like you'd be having the end-users tinkering in there anyway. Most look like they use odd form-factor PSUs, and I'm not confident of the quality of them. If you're inclined to think similarly, I'd go with one of these Seasonic units instead, it looks like it would drop into most of the cases in question.

  • HamurabiHamurabi MiamiRegistered User regular
    Asked in the OSX thread but got no reply. Does anyone know of a good utility to copy my entire Mac HDD over to the new SSD? I have it on an external dock.

  • DjeetDjeet Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    I haven't had to do such in years, but the goto tool with GUI then was Carbon Copy Cloner. I installed the SSD and booted up through firewire or USB to old drive and cloned to the SSD.

    Edit: I've used dd to make clones via shell before, but I cannot recall the syntax.

    Djeet on
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    I've used Clonezilla a good deal to backup drives over the network; it supports HFS.

  • mtsmts Dr. Robot King Registered User regular
    Djeet wrote: »
    I haven't had to do such in years, but the goto tool with GUI then was Carbon Copy Cloner. I installed the SSD and booted up through firewire or USB to old drive and cloned to the SSD.

    Edit: I've used dd to make clones via shell before, but I cannot recall the syntax.

    yea, just connect your new drive to the computer, clone it and stick it in. or just use time machine to restore after putting your new drive in

    camo_sig.png
  • HamurabiHamurabi MiamiRegistered User regular
    So I used Time Machine to create a backup on the SSD. Can I now just pop the SSD in and boot from it?

  • HamurabiHamurabi MiamiRegistered User regular
    Couldn't boot from it. Tried to put the HDD I'd taken out as a source to Time Machine restore from, but it still has the four hexagonal pegs on the sides, and I don't have the tool to get 'em off. Guess it'll have to wait till tomorrow when I can go over to CompUSA and buy the screwdriver. Unfortunate.

  • TaranisTaranis Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    So I'm thinking about upgrading from two Superclocked (900 mhz core clock) 1gb 560 ti's in SLI to a 4gb 680. I should see a significant performance upgrade right? I feel like I definitely should, but I can't find any benchmarks comparing 560 ti's in sli to a 680 let alone ones with relevant specs.

    Edit: Hmmm I just benchmarked my system using all 3 presets of 3dmark 11. My system is somehow slightly better than a 680 using the extreme preset, but at a huge disadvantage when using the Entry and Performance presets. Weird.

    Taranis on
    EH28YFo.jpg
  • TefTef Registered User regular
    What size is your monitor? My initial reaction is no, you won't see a significant increase in performance, unless you are having performance issues with the SLI setup in and of itself

    help a fellow forumer meet their mental health care needs because USA healthcare sucks!

    Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better

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  • TaranisTaranis Registered User regular
    Tef wrote: »
    What size is your monitor? My initial reaction is no, you won't see a significant increase in performance, unless you are having performance issues with the SLI setup in and of itself

    24" 60hz 1920x1080 Did you mean resolution, or does monitor size actually impact performance?

    Mostly I want to upgrade to reduce power consumption and get rid of SLI's microstutter. I'm not looking for a large increase in performance since I can already run most games at high or ultra settings while usually maintaining around 60fps, but it's hard to justify spending ~$600 without seeing at least a minor increase in performance (ie fewer drops below 60 fps).

    EH28YFo.jpg
  • TefTef Registered User regular
    The resolution was what I was after.

    Perhaps I can sell you on the 670 then? On a 1920x1080 monitor it's going to be pretty damn smooth with no SLI micro stutter since that's an issue for you. The fact it is noticeably cheaper than a 680 without a very noticeable drop in performance (at you resolution) is a very strong point in it's favour I feel.

    If you aren't committed to nvidia, AMD make some decent cards that are worth considering too

    The unfortunate reality is that you're really not going to find anything out there at the moment at a reasonable price that will be beat the absolute pants off a pair of 560tis in SLI. An improvement yes, but not a jaw dropping one.

    help a fellow forumer meet their mental health care needs because USA healthcare sucks!

    Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better

    bit.ly/2XQM1ke
  • StormwatcherStormwatcher Blegh BlughRegistered User regular
    He probably meant resolution, because extra VRAM is only needed if your're gonna use some sort of 3x1080p setup or those super hi-res 30' monitors.

    Also, @bowen why 2 vga????

    Steam: Stormwatcher | PSN: Stormwatcher33 | Switch: 5961-4777-3491
    camo_sig2.png
  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    He probably meant resolution, because extra VRAM is only needed if your're gonna use some sort of 3x1080p setup or those super hi-res 30' monitors.

    Also, @bowen why 2 vga????

    Old monitors. Don't have a DVI connector.
    Alecthar wrote: »
    Yeah, 2 VGA is pretty unusual these days. I seem to remember there was a time when cables with DVI on one end and VGA on the other were sold, if that's not something I conjured up out of the ether than that would at least spare you the additional hassle of an adapter.

    Case-wise, do you mean something like this? I don't know much about the quality of the case materials themselves, and most of the ones available on Newegg in that rough form-factor (categorized as "Micro-ATX Slim") aren't made by companies known for their exacting commitment to quality, but it's not like you'd be having the end-users tinkering in there anyway. Most look like they use odd form-factor PSUs, and I'm not confident of the quality of them. If you're inclined to think similarly, I'd go with one of these Seasonic units instead, it looks like it would drop into most of the cases in question.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200680

    You didn't, we just used up our last one. I need to get like 6 more of them.

    I'll take a look and probably post something later today. My only concern is the PSU and discrete cards if I go that route.

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • DjeetDjeet Registered User regular
    @bowen I know AMD is the unloved foster child of PC building, but given your requirements an A8/A10 Trinity APU build would likely get you what you need for $50-100 less than an i5 build with a discrete GPU. Haven't had a chance to dig too deeply, but the marketing collateral for the Trinity line boast capability of driving up to 4 displays via Eyefinity, though I'm not sure how that's done on an FM2 board with just one VGA and one DVI output.

  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    I am not opposed to it. We're not running VMs on this.

    If I can drop another $100 off that's kosher too. I don't think they're doing really intensive CPU stuff, just didn't know if AMD even had any current gen processors anymore after being shamed by intel for almost what.. 4 years?

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • AlectharAlecthar Alan Shore We're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered User regular
    AMD still aren't as competitive as one would like on per-core performance, and the quad-core procs in the Trinity line aren't really designed to compete with quad-cores from Intel, they're lined up against the dual-core+HT procs (Core i3) in terms of performance and price.

    If you think a quad-core is necessary, I don't think there's a better option than an LGA1155 Intel proc.

  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    They do do a lot of multitasking and I'm not sure on the multicore use of the apps. They're on i3 now and there's a noticeable difference between using it on mine over theirs (I have that i7 xeon cpu)

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • DjeetDjeet Registered User regular
    If their apps need FPU then Trinities are basically rated at half core number; AMD advertises on Integer cores, and only have half as many FP cores.

    Assuming you're talking about dual core HT i3's vs quad core HT i7's, you'd want to correct for clock and turbo and possibly compare to an i5 quad core (no HT). If the i5 nets you a good increase in performance then go with i5 and not Trinity. You could possibly determine this by putting similar load on the i3 and the i7 and fire up perfmon and watch how the cores are utilized.

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