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"I Need a New PC!" 2014 Part 2. Read OP, your 2500K will run Witcher 3. MX100s! 970!

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LilJoka

Member
What can you comfortably fit in a mini itx case anyway? Isn't it incredibly tight if you want to put in an optical drive, SSD and hard drive? Judging from reviews that's already tight in a mini tower. Just wondering for future consideration.

Depends on the case
Node 304 - Hyper 212 Evo, Full length GPU and 4 HDD's or Short GPU and 6 HDD's. 150mm PSU length.

CM Elite 130
Optical drive 3HDD's, full length GPU, 160mm PSU

Silverstone RVZ01
3 2.5" Drives, Slim optical drive, 3.25" drive, 13" GPU, SFX PSU

Ignore user reviews.

If you think it is too loud when you get it, there's a BIOS update coming out that basically alters the fan curve. As it is, it is too aggressive.

Yeah, but the big thing is the PSU being placed between the motherboard and side panel. That's what has always put me off of the Lian Li ITX and mATX options.

Apart from it widening the case, i didnt see a problem, what concerns do you have?
 

mkenyon

Banned
Apart from it widening the case, i didnt see a problem, what concerns do you have?
Easy access to my parts. I tinker. Plus all those cables gathering up dust from not being secured and out of the way.
How many times can someone RMA a video card for the same reason concurrently before Newegg start refusing? My gigabyte 970's got a buzzing coil whine issue.
You can RMA directly through Gigabyte.

Coil whine is a pretty complex thing, and can often times be a combination of things in your entire build, not necessarily the fault of the card itself.

Try adjusting voltage a bit on the card.
 

LilJoka

Member
Easy access to my parts. I tinker.

You give up tinkering on this case since it has 8! screws to remove before opening the side panel lol. But yes, the case is a big problem if you want to swap stuff a lot.

If you want to swap GPU, you got to unscrew the PSU, hang it out the case to get the GPU in/out.

If you want to change/install ODD, you have to remove everything!

The only good thing in terms of tinkering is the sliding HDD cage, which lets me swap SSDs, or work on the WCing without having to take it all apart.

When i service the WCing loop, i slide the HDD cage out, then unscrew the CPU block, then i literally pull the whole loop out the system in one piece along with the Rad which is velcro'd to the bottom of the case. And i do the same with installing it back in ready filled (risky!) lol.

The only cables that are passing the fans are long enough to sit under the rad fan next to the GPU, so cables shouldnt get dusty, havent yet anyways.
 

shandy706

Member
Did you register for the warranty? You also need to move fast - you have four days left in the window:


Register your Limited Lifetime Warranty product purchased new from an authorized reseller within 90 days of your original purchase date.
Register your qualifying 3 Year Warranty product purchased new from an authorized reseller within 14 days of your original purchase date.
If you should happen to miss your 14 day registration window on your qualifying 3 Year Warranty product then you may also purchase an extended warranty within 90 days of your original purchase date to enable the Step-Up option.
Don't worry, your Extended Warranty and Advanced RMA (EAR) purchases now transfers to your new Step-Up product!
The EVGA Step-Up program is currently only available to residents of the United States, Canada, and EU Countries.

Just finished the process....had to pay for the darn $30 warranty due to missing the 14 day registration part :(.

Still though, I bought the card for $500. I get to trade up, including shipping for $81. Now that the 780 is going for sub $300, an $81 upgrade to the 980 is a nice money saving upgrade.

I have a feeling I'll be in queue for forever, LOL. The card is backordered. It's ok though, I look forward to the day I get the request to mail in the 780!
 
Is there anything to know about how SLI works before I either buy a second 780Ti or two 980s? Have only ever used single cards, but I'm going to need power to push whichever new monitor I get. Things not to do and such, imagine there's not too much to worry about?
 

Serandur

Member
Faith had the same issue on his G1,

Just saw that, poor guy.

Easy access to my parts. I tinker. Plus all those cables gathering up dust from not being secured and out of the way.

You can RMA directly through Gigabyte.

Coil whine is a pretty complex thing, and can often times be a combination of things in your entire build, not necessarily the fault of the card itself.


Try adjusting voltage a bit on the card.

Do Gigabyte do advanced RMAs? I can't tolerate not having a video card, my worthless iGPU can't even display 2560x1440 on HDMI.

And how do you adjust the voltage? MSI Afterburner has core voltage grayed out, only power target and clock speed are unlocked. Lowering the power target to like 70% eliminates the noise, but also lowers my boost clock from 1405 MHz to like 1150.

I had coil whine issues with PSUs sometime back; swapped my HX750 out for my current Supernova G2 750 and everything was fixed. I specifically got the G2 because of its reputation and the capacitors on its cables to reduce electrical noise and all that. Coil whine is my worst nightmare in PC components, I'd pay quite a bit to guarantee myself freedom from it if it were possible.
 

mkenyon

Banned
Try increasing the power target.

Voltage overvolt should unlock if you go under advanced options.
Is there anything to know about how SLI works before I either buy a second 780Ti or two 980s? Have only ever used single cards, but I'm going to need power to push whichever new monitor I get. Things not to do and such, imagine there's not too much to worry about?
For a vast majority of games you play, and mostly if you stick to the big name releases, you'll have no issues.

Most will probably not have Day 1 or even Week 1 SLI profiles, though, unless it's an NVIDIA Greenworks title. In those instances, you'll either need to disable one of the cards, wait, or do a number of tweaks in order to get it running smoothly.

In another section of games, you will never get SLI profiles, and the same thing applies to them.

In another section of games, you will get poorly optimized SLI profiles, which will lead to poor frame pacing. The result of this is often referred to as microstutter, or judder.
 

Pocks

Member
Is an LGA 1155 mobo a huge bottleneck to a GTX 970? My nephew is getting a little more serious about PC gaming, and has his eyes set on a 970.

He has the BIOSTAR H61MU3 motherboard and the i3-2100. I'm not sure if we should do a new mobo and processor, or just upgrade his i3-2100 to an i5-3470.
 

kharma45

Member
Is an LGA 1155 mobo a huge bottleneck to a GTX 970? My nephew is getting a little more serious about PC gaming, and has his eyes set on a 970.

He has the BIOSTAR H61MU3 motherboard and the i3-2100. I'm not sure if we should do a new mobo and processor, or just upgrade his i3-2100 to an i5-3470.

The motherboard is fine. It's a 3.0 slot for the GPU (if used with an Ivy Bridge CPU) but even running it in 2.0 mode with the i3 he has won't cause any issues.

Depending on what games he's in to he could look about an i5 down the line. Used Ivy Bridge ones, or even Sandy, are reasonable money. Some games will bottleneck with that i3, some won't. Varies from title to title.
 

mkenyon

Banned
Is an LGA 1155 mobo a huge bottleneck to a GTX 970? My nephew is getting a little more serious about PC gaming, and has his eyes set on a 970.

He has the BIOSTAR H61MU3 motherboard and the i3-2100. I'm not sure if we should do a new mobo and processor, or just upgrade his i3-2100 to an i5-3470.
Games that have big slowdowns will continue to have slowdowns, especially in multiplayer games, strategy games, or during intense action/physics stuff.

The overall framerate will not be bottlenecked. In a number of games, the processor will not have any effect on the framerate.
 
In another section of games, you will get poorly optimized SLI profiles, which will lead to poor frame pacing. The result of this is often referred to as microstutter, or judder.
Gsync wouldn't be able to help with that at all? Hopefully it's not too prevalent as I'm getting a gsync'd monitor get away from stuttering, SLI is just the only option to actually be able to use a Swift or XB280
 
What's the "proper" way to switch from Radeon to GeForce in terms of uninstalling Catalyst and preparing the PC for GeForce drivers?
I really don't want to reformat everything.
 

mkenyon

Banned
Gsync wouldn't be able to help with that at all? Hopefully it's not too prevalent, SLI is just the only option to actually be able to use a Swift or XB280
It'll reduce the artifacting, but not the uneven framerate. The issue is that it is constant, so even with matching the refresh rate to the display, you'll have every single frame rendered at an alternating rate.

But let me stress again, for a vast majority of games you play, you will not have these issues.

I'd say poor frame delivery is less of an issue than missing SLI profiles entirely. If you step outside of the AAA/AA/popular realm, it's fairly typical for SLI profiles to never be released. Even on Tribes: Ascend, for example, there were never SLI profiles released. Or at least in the first year.

And a single 980 should be plenty for a Swift, FWIW.

Here's Watch Dogs at 1440p:

dogs-980.gif
 

Serandur

Member
Try increasing the power target.

Voltage overvolt should unlock if you go under advanced options.

For a vast majority of games you play, and mostly if you stick to the big name releases, you'll have no issues.

Most will probably not have Day 1 or even Week 1 SLI profiles, though, unless it's an NVIDIA Greenworks title. In those instances, you'll either need to disable one of the cards, wait, or do a number of tweaks in order to get it running smoothly.

In another section of games, you will never get SLI profiles, and the same thing applies to them.

In another section of games, you will get poorly optimized SLI profiles, which will lead to poor frame pacing. The result of this is often referred to as microstutter, or judder.

Maximum power target is 112, doesn't change a thing... lowering actually doesn't do anything until I get down to 40 and 850 MHz where it stops... mostly. How much is it safe to adjust core voltage by?
 

mkenyon

Banned
Maximum power target is 112, doesn't change a thing... lowering actually doesn't do anything until I get down to 40 and 850 MHz where it stops... mostly. How much is it safe to adjust core voltage by?
Just tweak it a little bit, and I really mean a tiny amount. The idea is to basically stop the (these are probably incorrect terms, but you get my meaning) resonating at certain frequencies. It's like if you have uneven tires on the road, and at a certain speed you'll get a really loud noise. Change the speed by even 1 MPH and the weird noise stops.
 
And a single 980 should be plenty for a Swift, FWIW.
Suppose it depends on how well gsync works, which given the impressions I'm guessing very well. Just know there are games where I don't reach 60 with my 780Ti at 1080P, let alone 2560x1440 or 120 hz. Plus I really like good AA which is expensive.

And obviously the 4K monitor is a whole other story.
 

mkenyon

Banned
does gsync make up for a video card that doesn't hit full frame rates 60/144?

anyways

can't decide between an

nzxt s340 or the nzxt h440
Mostly, yes. Anecdote on my part, but with G-Sync active, 90 FPS really feels like 120+.

For the case, depends on your budget I spose.

The Phanteks Enthoo Pro is a much better buy than the H440 though.
Suppose it depends on how well gsync works, which given the impressions I'm guessing very well. Just know there are games where I don't reach 60 with my 780Ti at 1080P, let alone 2560x1440 or 120 hz. Plus I really like good AA which is expensive.

And obviously the 4K monitor is a whole other story.
Well, if you're pushing for the big graphics hog games, then I wouldn't worry about having SLI profiles. Those are the ones that almost always get the proper treatment.
 
Well, if you're pushing for the big graphics hog games, then I wouldn't worry about having SLI profiles. Those are the ones that almost always get the proper treatment.
Good to know, I play pretty much everything(have the consoles/handhelds too) but obviously I'm not going to need two 980s for Wasteland 2 or Neverending Nightmares, lol.
 

Josman

Member
Accidentally asked in another thread:

Two WD Blue 1TB vs 2 TB WD green vs 2TB Toshiba?

I've read a lot of bad things about HDDs that I have no clue what to buy, WD are dicks for not selling a 2TB blue and instead a twice as expensive and loud 2TB black "for performance".

I was suggested to use cloud backups for university documents which I do, but I stil want to know the most reliable option.
 

mkenyon

Banned
It might just be BF4, but I get significant artifacts even at base clocks. :l
This is after you tried overclocking it?

Sweep all of that stuff off your system, and try reinstalling drivers. Might be forcing it to higher clocks based off an old setting.
Accidentally asked in another thread:

Two WD Blue 1TB vs 2 TB WD green vs 2TB Toshiba?

I've read a lot of bad things about HDDs that I have no clue what to buy, WD are dicks for not selling a 2TB blue and instead a twice as expensive and loud 2TB black "for performance".

I was suggested to use cloud backups for university documents which I do, but I stil want to know the most reliable option.
I've seen enough large scale anecdotal evidence to give me a lot more comfort about Toshibas over Cav Blues and Greens.
 

kharma45

Member
Accidentally asked in another thread:

Two WD Blue 1TB vs 2 TB WD green vs 2TB Toshiba?

I've read a lot of bad things about HDDs that I have no clue what to buy, WD are dicks for not selling a 2TB blue and instead a twice as expensive and loud 2TB black "for performance".

I was suggested to use cloud backups for university documents which I do, but I stil want to know the most reliable option.

I'd lean to two Blues, but I don't really wholly trust any drive. Best thing to do is start using OneDrive and back all your uni work up.
 
What is the quietest air cooler available for the i7 4790K that will fit in the Corsair 250D? Being able to overlock would be a bonus but I'm more interested in quiet as possible
 

Kriken

Member
Hi, been looking to invest in a PC for a while (Been mostly laptop for the past 6 years). In terms of the questions to answer from OP

Current Specs: NA (Starting fresh)
Budget: Under $1000 in US
Main Use: Gaming, general usage (A bit of CAD and photoshop perhaps) and light video editing
Monitor Resolution: Leaning towards the ASUS VS239H-P in the OP (1080p with 60 Hz)
Specific games: Current Gen would be nice, but not looking to future proof too far
Reuse parts: See current specs
Build time: Looking soon, preferably within a month
Overclocking: Probably

Parts List:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fY2PvK

Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99+tax Microcenter)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.66 Amazon)
Asus Z97-AR ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.99+tax Microcenter)
Corsair XMS 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 Newegg)
Hitachi Deskstar 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($73.49 Amazon)
PNY GeForce GTX 770 4GB Video Card ($220 GAF)
Corsair SPEC-03 Red ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 Newegg)
Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($15.99 Newegg)
Total: $776.70

Probably will consider a cheap SSD additionally, if there's anything you can see that's not required/can be improved, I'd love to know
 

xBladeM6x

Member
This is after you tried overclocking it?

Sweep all of that stuff off your system, and try reinstalling drivers. Might be forcing it to higher clocks based off an old setting.

I've seen enough large scale anecdotal evidence to give me a lot more comfort about Toshibas over Cav Blues and Greens.

Already have re-installed drivers like 5 times over the course of testing the last couple days, just to be sure. (fresh installs each time) Also, the artifacting I saw may have just been a one time thing, so we can ignore that for now. However I have been seeing shadow issues with certain games here and there. They might have always existed, but I'm only seeing them now, I don't know. Here's an example of one of them that has been happening since the first time I ever launched the game with the new card. (no OC, other than the factory SC)

Beware huge gif. Lol
egrwrwgerwew_by_xbladem6x-d80mn00.gif
 

Azzurri

Member
Bought the MX100 512gb for 188 on newegg. Slowly buying pieces for my new build. Just waiting to see if Asus or Gigabyte releases their mATX X99.
 

kharma45

Member
Hi, been looking to invest in a PC for a while (Been mostly laptop for the past 6 years). In terms of the questions to answer from OP

Current Specs: NA (Starting fresh)
Budget: Under $1000 in US
Main Use: Gaming, general usage (A bit of CAD and photoshop perhaps) and light video editing
Monitor Resolution: Leaning towards the ASUS VS239H-P in the OP (1080p with 60 Hz)
Specific games: Current Gen would be nice, but not looking to future proof too far
Reuse parts: See current specs
Build time: Looking soon, preferably within a month
Overclocking: Probably

Parts List:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fY2PvK

Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99+tax Microcenter)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.66 Amazon)
Asus Z97-AR ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.99+tax Microcenter)
Corsair XMS 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 Newegg)
Hitachi Deskstar 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($73.49 Amazon)
PNY GeForce GTX 770 4GB Video Card ($220 GAF)
Corsair SPEC-03 Red ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 Newegg)
Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($15.99 Newegg)
Total: $776.70

Probably will consider a cheap SSD additionally, if there's anything you can see that's not required/can be improved, I'd love to know

Not the best PSU. I'd grab the SSD now. This mobo and CPU combo is a better one from MC.

For up to $1K

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($110.00)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 Low Profile Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($73.49 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.98 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Other: 770 2GB from GAF ($220.00)
Total: $890.40
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-26 20:10 EDT-0400

Leaves plenty of wiggle room
 

Prez

Member
Depends on the case
Node 304 - Hyper 212 Evo, Full length GPU and 4 HDD's or Short GPU and 6 HDD's. 150mm PSU length.

CM Elite 130
Optical drive 3HDD's, full length GPU, 160mm PSU

Silverstone RVZ01
3 2.5" Drives, Slim optical drive, 3.25" drive, 13" GPU, SFX PSU

That's pretty good. Found out about the Corsair 250D as well, that seems like the perfect case for me. Great balance of size, material quality and aesthetics. I was considering the CM Elite 130 but its depth bothers me (it's pretty much a mini tower that's half the height which really has no advantages to me compared to a mini tower).
 

luxarific

Nork unification denier
Just finished the process....had to pay for the darn $30 warranty due to missing the 14 day registration part :(.

Still though, I bought the card for $500. I get to trade up, including shipping for $81. Now that the 780 is going for sub $300, an $81 upgrade to the 980 is a nice money saving upgrade.

I have a feeling I'll be in queue for forever, LOL. The card is backordered. It's ok though, I look forward to the day I get the request to mail in the 780!

Awesome. I do love EVGA so much, just fantastic support all around. I'm bummed to hear their first 970 cards may have a coil whine, but I'm hoping the ASC 2.0 variants don't.
 
Any major cons in playing PC games on a TV rather than a monitor? I'll be gaming at 1080p and would rather save a good $150 or so by not buying a monitor.
 

~Kinggi~

Banned
Any major cons in playing PC games on a TV rather than a monitor? I'll be gaming at 1080p and would rather save a good $150 or so by not buying a monitor.

Might have some slight lag in display that wasnt on the monitor but if the TV is good enough and you use HDMI it wont be noticeable to most people.
 
X

Xpike

Unconfirmed Member
Hi! I've been thinking of upgrading my motherboard + processor + RAM (graphics card, storage, etc, are covered for now). How does this sound? (Keep in mind I'm running right now an AMD Quad-core, with the main problem being my motherboard still only supports DDR2

CPU: AMD FX-8320 FX-Series 8-Core Black Edition
Motherboard: Gigabyte AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gbps USB 3.0 ATX DDR3 1800 AMD Motherboard GA-970A-UD3P
RAM:Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) CL9 @1.5V UDIMM 240-Pin Memory BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00
 

garath

Member
Hi! I've been thinking of upgrading my motherboard + processor + RAM (graphics card, storage, etc, are covered for now). How does this sound? (Keep in mind I'm running right now an AMD Quad-core, with the main problem being my motherboard still only supports DDR2

CPU: AMD FX-8320 FX-Series 8-Core Black Edition
Motherboard: Gigabyte AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gbps USB 3.0 ATX DDR3 1800 AMD Motherboard GA-970A-UD3P
RAM:Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) CL9 @1.5V UDIMM 240-Pin Memory BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00

Gaming? Don't go AMD. Go Intel. Check the OP for some good suggestions for builds in your budget.
 
I have a friend who's looking for a new Mac desktop for gaming. He's not a member here so I'm posting for him. He's not very tech savvy so he couldn't list any desired specs

Country: USA

Maximum budget: I'm not putting one, since I want to see how high the best laptop/desktop can go

Maximum Size: (He currently has a laptop) I have a 13inch MacBook now, which I like the size of. I would be shooting for that size again, but if a larger size laptop/desktop can offer better performance, I'd entertain it

Planned Usage: The newest games, the highest specs, the best resolution. Again, I don't want to put limits on any of that, since I want to see what is the best offered for gaming on a Mac desktop and then work my way down.
 

vocab

Member
Already have re-installed drivers like 5 times over the course of testing the last couple days, just to be sure. (fresh installs each time) Also, the artifacting I saw may have just been a one time thing, so we can ignore that for now. However I have been seeing shadow issues with certain games here and there. They might have always existed, but I'm only seeing them now, I don't know. Here's an example of one of them that has been happening since the first time I ever launched the game with the new card. (no OC, other than the factory SC)

That happens in every battlefield game. If it happens in every game, sure be worried, but never base anything off a battlefield game.

I need a good z97 board. There's just so much to choose from.
 

xBladeM6x

Member

McBryBry

Member
Are we worried about 970's going out of stock? I just had some money come in, and I was gonna go to Microcenter tomorrow to pick up a 4690k/MSI Gaming 5 mobo combo, but I'd rather spend it on the 970 if there's a chance I could miss them.
 

xBladeM6x

Member
Are we worried about 970's going out of stock? I just had some money come in, and I was gonna go to Microcenter tomorrow to pick up a 4690k/MSI Gaming 5 mobo combo, but I'd rather spend it on the 970 if there's a chance I could miss them.

Even if they do, they'll be back in stock within a few days. (At least to my knowledge on how stock typically works)
 

Dezzy

Member
I plan on getting an Intel Core i7 4790k. There are way too many motherboards to choose from though. Any guidance? Stability is most important, not interested in overclocking and such. Leaning towards Gigabytes Z97, GA-Z97X-UD5H because of a combo deal on newegg, but a couple reviews mention random reboots and that worries me.
 
Ok, I've got a issue and hopefully you guys can weigh in and give me some advice on what best to do.


1. I have a i7 3770k system that is my main PC and game machine. I had a GTX 770 in there, but just bought two 970's to SLI.

2. I have a old i5 2500k system where I put my old GTX 770

3. I have been trying to test out my system and haven't really noticed any performance increase. So long story short, after some research my motherboard doesn't support SLI.

I need to get a new motherboard and in the process I'll get a new CPU as well. I'll get a i7 because why the hell not? I work right down the street from Microcenter, which has the best prices for CPUs so it's not as expensive to get a i7 either. So my real question is, which processor do I get, the numbering scheme has gotten really confusing since they went to Haswell.
 
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