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[Computer Build Thread] - Haswell? More like Has...damnit, I had something for this...
Posts
What's the computer for?
I got the windowed white version. It seems like every case is black nowadays, so I like the idea of having something a little different and unique. I'll put some pics up when it's done.
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
General purpous and games, I have a video card that I bought recently that would fit in there, and I already have drives as well, just need a new Mobo/processor/RAM
Even with both the harddrive cages in it, the 550D has plenty of room to quadfire HD7990s, if that was a thing that is even possible to do.
Technically 2x 7990's are quadfire. 4 physical cards would be 8 GPUs! That would be crazy awesome. But impossibru.
Not sure what to test the new card out on though, maybe I'll give Witcher 2 a go as I had some slowdowns previously.
Xbox Live: ObsoletePaper | Uplay: Banzai5150 | Playstation: ObosoletePaper
Any recommendations? I was eyeing the G700 but it's apparently replaced by the G700S, which looks a bit silly. I'm also looking at the G602, which looks similarly silly. I'd really like to stick to Logitech this time, since my trusty MX Revolution lasted for like 5 years...and they've since discontinued it.
FYI, I am overclocking my 3770k to 4.2 ghz using an EVO 212 and am running one of the EVGA windforce cards that exhausts into your case. Not sure if that makes a difference or not.
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
I don't have much input for you, but I'm chiming in because I also have an airflow question. My HTPC is a BitFenix Prodigy (mITX) with an ASUS P8z77-iDeluxe, 3570K, noctua d14, and a 7850. The two fans on the d14 are using a splitter to plug into the CPU fan plug on the mobo. The 140mm case fan directly behind the d14 is plugged into the only (I think) case fan plug on the mobo. I then have a 200mm fan on the front panel and a 140mm fan in the front position on the top panel both intaking. I have another 140mm that I intended to put in the second spot on the top panel, but the d14 is too big (LOL). The two intake fans are connected to molex and have been running at 100% RPM for about 1 1/2 years. The sound has fi ally gotten to me and I ordered a NZXT fan controller (the one with analog sliders, the LCD ones seem kinda shifty and untrustworthy). My question is, should I just put the two intake fans on the controller, or should I move everything over? I'm assuming that the mobo will do a better job throttling the CPU fans than I will. Thoughts? Should I be rearranging/replacing any of these fans after 18 months of such hard use? Thanks in advance
The point of the intakes is to bring in cool air, and the exhausts exhaust hot air. There are essentially two "methodologies" to PC cooling: Positive Pressure and Negative Pressure. Positive pressure can basically be boiled down to more cfm as intake than exhaust. The benefits to this are less dust inside your PC, with the downside being less overall cooling ability. Negative pressure is basically more cfm as exhaust than intake, and is generally better at overall cooling, but obviously increases dust (and in your case, noise).
Honestly, it's not going to hurt anything to just test it out. Remove it, and see if they temperatures you're seeing are worth the reduced noise.
I'd personally leave the CPU fans on the D14 attached to the cpu fan header (if they are both PWM fans). As long as the fans spin freely and don't make any weird motor noise (whines, etc) then you shouldn't worry about replacing them - just keep them clean.
Positive pressure is good but I feel three intake and only one exhaust is a bit too far off balance. You might end up with too much air going into the case with nowhere to go and it just stagnates. Because of the R4's design there's not a lot of vents and crevices for the air to escape. I would say if you really want to drop down to just one exhaust, you might want to also drop down to two intakes. Unless you can really crank up the back fan and lower the RPMs on the intakes. That may help balance it. It may be best to just try a few orientations.
I just installed the Sentry Mix 2 yesterday and filled up all 6 channels with my 6 case fans. I don't really know that case very well or what that fan orientation does for airflow. But I would say that you should definitely throw all your fans on it that you can, except you CPU fans. BUT, some people probably put their CPU fans on there too.
Put your intakes and exhaust on the controller. CPU fans should stay on the pwm mobo header.
The flakey sensor and the fact that using the RAT7 made my hands physically hurt is what made me switch to a G500. It's become my favorite general purpose and gaming mouse, but for MMO's I use a G600 and it's great too.
Good idea, I'll try removing the bottom fan perhaps and see how that affects it. If temps go up too much I'll just go ahead and go back to my original configuration. Even though it has one more fan than my old case, it's definitely still quieter with all the noise insulating stuff in the R4, so I can't really complain too much either way. Thanks!
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
Does anyone have any ideas for this price range?
Is it worth it to get an i7, or should I stick with the i5, which is what I see get thrown around the most?
I'm hoping to be able to play The Witcher 3 without too many issues when that comes out. Do you think that's possible with my budget?
Sorry we skipped you! Sometimes I think we just assume that 5 other people are going to throw down a pcpartpicker list within the first 5 minutes and then we forget. I think that's what happened regarding me at least because I remember seeing your post now. Let me take a look at some things and I'll have a build for you. You'll definitely be able to reach your goals with that budget I think.
I know you said you won't need a keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc. What about a copy of Windows? Will that need to be included in the budget? Since you want to take advantage of Big Picture, do you want a gamepad/360 controller included in the cost as well?
Alright here you go. Its at the upper end of your budget but will give you a great system that should last you a long time. If you wanted to bring it down more in the middle of your budget you could easily get an Nvidia GTX 760 instead of the 770. The 770 will be better for 1080P and The Witcher 3 at max settings. 760 would be a great card but its longevity will be in question with more demanding games being released in the future. Also, if you live near a Microcenter, you can get that CPU for $159 right now. (I swear next time I move I'm going to move near a Microcenter. And I will move there specifically for that reason.)
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2SQs0
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2SQs0/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2SQs0/benchmarks/
CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($196.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B85M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($122.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($319.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $979.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-13 20:54 EST-0500)
EDIT: Also, the i7 isn't worth it unless you do a lot of photo/video editing and some other specific things. If you're just wanting a good multipurpose machine that will game, then an i5 is what you want. An i7 offers no benefit for gaming. (Though I kinda call that into question for some games. I remember reading through some Planetside 2 boards and people were saying they were getting much better results when upgrading for Core i5's to Core i7's. But I'm not sure any true testing has been done on that game. It was poorly optimized when it first came out.)
Is it just an aggressive loss leader to get nerds into a physical store? I can't imagine they're turning a profit on those CPUs.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
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Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Pretty much this. When I bought mine at a MC, they were locked behind a case, so I had to get a sales associate. So he had the opportunity to try to sell me addons like motherboards and video cards. Luckily, he wasn't as pushy as I was expecting him to be.
Generally if you're installing all new hardware Windows throws a fit, and won't boot. The only solution is to completely reinstall. I recently had a similar issue with my wife's new machine, and a digitally downloaded copy of Windows.
Step 1) Get Windows 7: Either via a USB Drive, A friend's physical copy, or see if you can re-download it from Microsoft on a different machine.
Step 2) Install Windows 7 again (You can install it "over" your current version or on a completely new partition).
Step 3) Once you've got Windows 7 re-installed, you can download and use one of the many free CD Key finding programs, and point it to your Windows.old directory if you installed over your last version of Windows, or point it to the first installation on a different partition.
Step 4) Use the CD key of the previously installed Windows version to validate your current install.
Oh man I hope you haven't reinstalled yet. I totally just did the same thing, I just upgraded my motherboard, cpu, and ram on Tuesday night. Of course I tried using the same hard drive and bam, blue screen every time I tried to get into windows. I spent a bit searching online and finally found what seemed like a relatively unknown way to fix it. You can read the guide about doing that at http://www.dowdandassociates.com/blog/content/howto-repair-windows-7-install-after-replacing-motherboard/
Basically you need another pc to download drivers to a usb stick and install them via command prompt from the repair tool. All I had to do was force it to install my sata driver and Windows loaded fine.
3DS: 1178-0499-1778
Spoilered for huge.
Shot of the window with the red LED fan. I thought about using red at the top, but I didn't case for how brightly it shone through the top fan slot, so I left a normal non-LED fan there.
One more shot from the other side. It looks so good!
Overall I'm quite pleased with it and I think I'll be sticking with this one for a long while.
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
Where were you last month?
Even more reason for me to move closer to a Microcenter someday.....
But regardless, white R4 builds still look awesome.
Honestly I'm almost to the point of just buying a copy of Windows 8 as shitty as it is
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
Make sure they aren't plugged into USB3.0 ports, and it isn't a wireless device. I also had this problem...ended up using the wired keyboard from my PC, and the an old 5 dollar GE mouse from walmart, both plugged into the front USB ports. :/