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[Dark Octave]

For a secondary monitor! I like having a second one in portrait mode for fitting mumble, HWMonitor, chrome, and other random stuff. I had a Crossover 27Q, but the resolution was a bit too high for my liking, but I did like the size.

The current one I have in there is some extra 24" Samsung TN with the worst viewing angles ever. Needs to go.

I'm curious as to why you have your PCs elevated instead of on the floor. Dust?

 

[TyrantGuardian]

Hmm. My Gigabyte 670 seems to be stuck in the highest performance mode (minus boost clock when not under load) for some reason... GPU usage is at 0% but my clock is at 1045Mhz. I've overclocked it via nVidia inspector, but setting it to default settings does nothing. This issue persists through reboots as well. Anyone have any idea what could be causing this?

Still haven't solved this. Help, anyone? Using a single display.

 

[MrBig]

Still haven't solved this. Help, anyone? Using a single display.

Some GPU accelerated software must be open. It could be Chrome, Firefox, windows aero, etc

 

[TyrantGuardian]

Some GPU accelerated software must be open. It could be Chrome, Firefox, windows aero, etc

Whoa, it really was that simple. Shutting down Chrome solved it. Now it's working as normal even with Chrome running. What's weird is that the problem persisted through reboots. Color me confused.

 

[Hazaro]

Hey guys, quick question: if these are the temperatures I'm seeing, this indicates that I didn't put thermal grease on uniformly, right?

There have been times where there is a 13 degree difference between the first two cores and the third...

SB/Ivy have bad idle temp sensors. Plus yours is an ES. It would be an issue with the IHS and the actual chip. Not your paste unless you put almost none on your CPU.

When I did switch the cables from monitor to monitor the color "profile" stayed with the cable and not the monitor or Xbox. One cable was causing distinctly lighter/faded colors compared to the rest it stayed with that cable and not monitor only reason I tried switching it was I didn't want the one that was least uniform to the rest on the center monitor.

I do not know why it happened and If I didn't see it myself I would probably be posting the same stuff as everyone else here.

Anyways here is a link

http://www.tested.com/news/feature/3329-the-difference-between-cheap-and-expensive-hdmi-cables/

"Malota wished to prove that four cables of the same category" - Not sure if this means the same spec/revision, but I believe this is what they are referring to due to the reference at the bottom.

"There are some minor variations, but they all fall within acceptable limits." - This sort of supports what I saw (although they did say the difference was insignificant) & if the top quote is referring to revision/spec ex HDMI 1.4a etc then there could be larger variations between different specs, but even then it seems odd as does the device not dictate the color depth?

... and lastly I never said better colors, I said different that you may or may not prefer.

From your own link it's 1% max, often far far less than that.

The light comes on the motherboard when I plug in the power supply and flip the switch but when I press the power button the fans start up for a split second and that's it. The power supply and power switch are plugged in properly.

Is your 4/8 pin mobo power plugged in?
Assemble it outside the case barebones (mobo, cpu, ram, heatsink only) start it with a screwdriver (touch the 2 power pins) see if it boots.

Anyone have any recommendations for a monitor riser? I need a little more desk space.

Looking for something around a two to three feet wide riser.

2x2 textbooks.

 

[CRS]

Hahaha, that's what I'm using now! (And I agree, they work great.)

I was hoping on getting something to set my monitor and possibly my speakers on top with my DAC/Amp and future maschine underneath it.

 

[Dark Octave]

Is your 4/8 pin mobo power plugged in?
Assemble it outside the case barebones (mobo, cpu, ram, heatsink only) start it with a screwdriver (touch the 2 power pins) see if it boots.

I'll try that thanks.

 

[Progmetal]

Is my Antec VP450 (450W)PSU enough for a SAPPHIRE HD 6850 1GB card.

I see recommended PSU is 500-600W.

 

[legacyzero]

Is my Antec VP450 (450W)PSU enough for a SAPPHIRE HD 6850 1GB card.

I see recommended PSU is 500-600W.

pretty much answered your own question TBH.

 

[Cronox]

SB/Ivy have bad idle temp sensors. Plus yours is an ES. It would be an issue with the IHS and the actual chip. Not your paste unless you put almost none on your CPU.

It seems like a pretty bad difference even with poor sensors though. I did some research on the ES bit, it's core temp's problem, mine is a normal retail, correctly identified in other programs.

Here's another, this time while prime95 is running, about 5 minutes in:

Thing is, I wanted to overclock this, but 10+ degrees of variance between cores makes me wonder which temps I should be paying attention to.

 

[Lyonaz]

So I bought a nice gaming PC in May and want to keep it clean and dust free unlike my last one.
So what do you guys do to keep it clean? Open it up every other month and dust it off or use compressed air and stuff?

 

[Progmetal]

pretty much answered your own question TBH.

Yeah, but i saw Hazaro mentioning 6850 together with VP450.

 

[mkenyon]

So I bought a nice gaming PC in May and want to keep it clean and dust free unlike my last one.
So what do you guys do to keep it clean? Open it up every other month and dust it off or use compressed air and stuff?

Filters (demciflex), positive air pressure, good cable management, and keep your PC off of the floor.

Hahaha, that's what I'm using now! (And I agree, they work great.)

I was hoping on getting something to set my monitor and possibly my speakers on top with my DAC/Amp and future maschine underneath it.

Metal wire racks. Check out Storables (store) or your local big box hardware/home improvement store. Look at the pic of my setup above, the rack is entirely modular.

I'm curious as to why you have your PCs elevated instead of on the floor. Dust?

Yep. The big tower hasn't been cleaned in like three months and the interior is spic and span. Plus, since I spend so much effort and time making them pretty, I want to show them off.

 

[CRS]

So I bought a nice gaming PC in May and want to keep it clean and dust free unlike my last one.
So what do you guys do to keep it clean? Open it up every other month and dust it off or use compressed air and stuff?

I have fan filters where my intakes are and I open it up at least once a month and clean it with compressed air.

 

[CRS]

Filters (demciflex), positive air pressure, good cable management, and keep your PC off of the floor.

Metal wire racks. Check out Storables (store) or your local big box hardware/home improvement store. Look at the pic of my setup above, the rack is entirely modular.

Yep. The big tower hasn't been cleaned in like three months and the interior is spic and span. Plus, since I spend so much effort and time making them pretty, I want to show them off.

Thanks! Will check it out.

Also, the wire rack supports your PC?! I would be paranoid that it would snap at any given moment. Your setup is actually something I'm really interested in. I have my computer on the floor because there's not a lot of room on my desk.

This is a pic of my desk when I first moved in. It's not a large desk at all but I'm sure that wire rack could fit.

 

[teh_pwn]

It seems like a pretty bad difference even with poor sensors though. I did some research on the ES bit, it's core temp's problem, mine is a normal retail, correctly identified in other programs.

Here's another, this time while prime95 is running, about 5 minutes in:



Thing is, I wanted to overclock this, but 10+ degrees of variance between cores makes me wonder which temps I should be paying attention to.

Your temps are not too high, but the variation is strange. How did you apply the thermal paste?

Wait a sec, 19 C? That's lower than room temperature. Your sensors on core 0 and 1 appear to be faulty. I've never seen idle temps below 26.

 

[legacyzero]

So I bought a nice gaming PC in May and want to keep it clean and dust free unlike my last one.
So what do you guys do to keep it clean? Open it up every other month and dust it off or use compressed air and stuff?

My case is the NXZT switch 810, which comes with dust screens. My PC is on the floor too, so every week or two, I remove them and blow them out. Not a spec of dust in my case.

 

[·feist·]

So I bought a nice gaming PC in May and want to keep it clean and dust free unlike my last one.
So what do you guys do to keep it clean? Open it up every other month and dust it off or use compressed air and stuff?

Metro Vacuum ED500 DataVac 500-Watt 0.75-HP Electric Duster 120-Volt
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001J4ZOAW/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[mkenyon]

Metro Vacuum ED500 DataVac 500-Watt 0.75-HP Electric Duster 120-Volt
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001J4ZOAW/?tag=neogaf0e-20

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41oNE2XwwwL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Yeah, that too. It's actually less expensive than canned air over the course of even a single year. It's one of those PC tools that I can't live without now.

 

[beje]

Get a VP450 for a new power supply and a 6850. Squeeze it into the budget if possible.
If you really can't spare anything a 7770 would fit the bill. Pretty low power too which is the only reason I'd suggest it over a 6850.

I've been checking and I think a 7770 is the best bet for my budget and needs. I've been checking reviews and I have a question: taking into account it draws less than 100W on full load, can I skip connecting the PCI-E power cable for lower power consumption overall? Or I'm better with it? Besides, I don't think I need a new PS seeing how mine is 500W even if it doesn't "look like" it and it can bear my GTS250, which is a 9800GTX+ rebranded.

 

[Lyonaz]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll invest in some filters, dust screens and an electric duster or compressed air cans.

 

[Hazaro]

Is my Antec VP450 (450W)PSU enough for a SAPPHIRE HD 6850 1GB card.

I see recommended PSU is 500-600W.

More than enough.

PSU requirements are still way way overblown so people buying '600W' MAXPOWERCOOL PSUs don't have them fail since they only put out 300W on the 12V rail.

It seems like a pretty bad difference even with poor sensors though. I did some research on the ES bit, it's core temp's problem, mine is a normal retail, correctly identified in other programs.

Here's another, this time while prime95 is running, about 5 minutes in:

Thing is, I wanted to overclock this, but 10+ degrees of variance between cores makes me wonder which temps I should be paying attention to.

Use RealTemp and see what the temps say. If there is a 10C difference that's way larger than average, but should be an IHS issue. Go ahead and reseat and reapply paste to be sure though. Take the higher core #'s into account.

I've been checking and I think a 7770 is the best bet for my budget and needs. I've been checking reviews and I have a question: taking into account it draws less than 100W on full load, can I skip connecting the PCI-E power cable for lower power consumption overall? Or I'm better with it? Besides, I don't think I need a new PS seeing how mine is 500W even if it doesn't "look like" it and it can bear my GTS250, which is a 9800GTX+ rebranded.

It may say 500W but how many amps does it give on the 12V rail, and does it feel like it's made of nothing?

Run it with the molex to 6 pin adapter.

 

[zoku88]

That's all correct. HDMI's error handling isn't terribly robust, as I recall all it can do is detect that it's happening, it can't request retries. It might simply drop the connection though.

My point was that color tinting is extra unlikely in an encrypted stream, since the values are all scrambled anyway. I mean if the cable somehow managed to consistently drop the low-order bit on every third byte, and the display didn't drop the connection, after that byte is decrypted it's going to be a completely different value. The low order bit might have been a high-order bit, and you'll get variances between tinting towards blue and tinting away from blue.

Also, after looking it up, HDCP is supposed to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks, so it needs to drop the connection after an error is detected anyway.

Assuming that the errors are random (and frequent) and not caused by some defect in the wires themselvse, I don't see how encryption would affect the likelihood of color error. It doesn't really matter if the bits affecting color are close together or not. The proximity woud affect how much the color was off, though.

Not saying it would be noticeable, if like it was the LSB and not the MSB, but the color would still be 'wrong'.

I use cheapo HDMI cables over short length (and use them rarely too), so it's not like I've ever had certain problems. I wonder what normal use one has for 50ft cables though. It's hard for me to imagine households with the source and the receiever(the TV/monitor) being so far apart...

Btw, since you seem to know more about HDMI than I do, do you know if it attempts to correct without a retry, or if it will only detect and drop?
EDIT: I guess your last sentence kind of answers that question.

 

[beje]

It may say 500W but how many amps does it give on the 12V rail, and does it feel like it's made of nothing?

Run it with the molex to 6 pin adapter.

According to specs I've found online:

+12V1 18A
+12V2 18A
-12V 0,5A

Do you mean that?

Also, I didn't mean that the quality was cheap, just the looks because it's been serving me pretty much perfectly for 5 years straight: no peaks, no fried components, no outages... nothing.

 

[Calidor]

Hi GAF, I'm building a gaming PC and I have 1000$ to spend. I'm about to order this:

Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Internal Desktop Hard Drive Bulk/OEM - WD1002FAEX - Western Digital $104.99

Corsair Vengeance 8 GB ( 2 x 4 GB ) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) 240-Pin DDR3 Memory Kit for Intel Core i3, i5, i7 and AMD Platforms SDRAM CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 - Corsair $43.99

OCZ Technology 128GB Vertex 4 Series SATA 6.0 GB/s 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive (SSD) With Industry's Highest 120K IOPS And 5-Year Warranty - VTX4-25SAT3-128G - OCZ Technology $104.99

Seasonic 430W SLI ATX12V Power Supply S12II 430 BRONZE - Seasonic $59.99

MSI GTX 660 Ti Power Edition Graphics Card with Triple Overvoltage and Enhanced PWM Design (N660TI PE 2GD5/OC) - MSI Computer Corp. $309.99

Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155 - BX80637I53570K - Intel $229.99

Asus P8Z77-V LK Intel Z77 DDR3 LGA 1155 Motherboards - Asus $145.83

Subtotal: $999.7

am I overlooking something? How is the reliability on the SSD drive? I'm a little bit concerned about the Amazon's customers comments and I'd rather be safe avoiding defective units instead of a little bump in speed.

Can I expect from this setup to run every game @ 1080p/60fps?

 

[kagete]

Then just get the Samsung SSD for not much more.

For your parts, I would maybe bump up to the 520 W seasonic MII instead of that smaller one.

 

[Palom]

Apologies in advance for the super-long post. I'll try bolding a few spots if someone just wants to skim through it.

I'm going to be in the market for a new PC probably by year's end or maybe by Spring. I currently have a 6-year-old desktop (Core 2 Duo 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM, 896MB GeForce GTX 260) and a 5-year-old laptop (Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM, 512MB GeForce 9500M). I'm looking to consolidate them into one machine, as I don't really have the need for the portability of a laptop anymore. (It was mainly used as a media center that I could take to work for listening to music, but my phone + cloud storage and Pandora have diminished that need.) I'm not that big into PC gaming, but I do want the option available in something that will last for more than a couple years (maybe switch to PC for multiplatform releases). I would like to be able to play some of my PS2 and Gamecube games on it through emulation, too.

My main problem is that I don't have the space for a normal desktop PC. I moved about a year ago and have had my desktop in a closet since. I only recently brought it out because my laptop is starting to fail. Normally, I come home from work and open the laptop on my coffee table and mess around on it while I'm watching TV. Right now, I have my desktop case under the coffee table with the monitor on top. This is a rather unwieldy temporary solution.

I was thinking of going for a mini-ATX build so I can have the case sitting on my credenza. This way, I can hook up the audio to my stereo and output video to my TV (using my receiver as a pass-through). The only problem with that is I couldn't surf the web while watching TV or playing PS3. I would like to keep my monitor on the coffee table for web surfing, then switch to the TV for gaming. Is wireless HDMI possible for that? I know next to nothing about it. Would it be less of a headache to just get a 25' HDMI or DVI-D cable and run it around the perimeter of the room? I would also be looking for advice on a wireless keyboard, mouse, and headphones. I tried wireless keyboard and mouse before (Microsoft brand), but they were awful and kept dropping signal. Also, adding a wireless 360 controller, too: would all these wireless peripherals cause too much signal interference? I've got a wireless router on 2.4GHz channel in the same room, too, not to mention the PS3 with its controllers.

The alternative would be to go for a 17" gaming laptop and just set it on my coffee table like I did with my old laptop. If I wanted to game on the TV, I could move it to the credenza and plug it in. Then, I would only need a wireless keyboard, mouse, and controller.

Pricing things out, it looks like I'm going to be spending about $2500 either way. I also need a new desktop monitor, as the one I have now is an early-model 24" LCD with 16ms response and terrible image retention. I don't play any competitive games, so I'm not sure if a low response time would even be necessary for me. I am also fine with just a 1920x1080 resolution since most gaming would be on a 1080p TV anyway. (As an aside, have games gotten better about this over the last few years? I remember having terrible times getting them to output full-screen on the non-primary monitor, especially if I want to tab over to a browser window on the other monitor and have access to the Start menu.)

Both machines would be fairly similarly-equipped, with the main difference being the CPU (3.5GHz in the desktop versus 2.7GHz in the laptop). The desktop I have configured so far is as follows:

BitFenix Prodigy Arctic White / White Steel / Plastic Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case
ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard with USB BIOS
Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
EVGA 02G-P4-2683-KR GeForce GTX 680 Superclocked, Signature 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support ...
SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC256B/WW 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
LITE-ON Black Internal 12X Blu-ray Combo SATA Model ihes112-04 - OEM
CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX650 650W ATX12V v2.31 / EPSV12 v2.92 80 PLUS
CORSAIR H80 (CWCH80) High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM

Total: $1,900.89 at Newegg. Haven't compared with Amazon yet.
Then add a monitor and additional wireless peripherals to that. I'm also open to suggestions on any tweaks. Storage may be overkill. Will 16GB RAM be overkill for next-gen games? Would I be better off with a 4GB GTX 680? I've never dealt with liquid cooling before (found this one based on another site's mini-ATX build); am I missing additional hardware, or should I just use standard fans?

Not sure if I should cross-post in the gaming laptop thread, but it looks like my only options for a laptop are Sager or MSI. I have no knowledge of either, but I'm not fond of their keyboard layouts with the arrow keys sharing space with right-shift. I currently have an ASUS laptop and love their keyboard layout. Ignoring that, I'm looking at a Sager NP9370:

17.3" Sager FHD 16:9 "Matte Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Matte Screen (1920x1080) (SKU - S1R401)
Sager - 3rd Generation Intel® Ivy Bridge Core™ i7-3820QM (2.7GHz - 3.7GHz, 8MB Intel® Smart Cache, 45W Max TDP) (SKU - S2R203)
nVidia GeForce GTX 680M 4,096MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 [User Upgradeable] (SKU - S3R707)
16GB - DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (SKU - S4S822AP)
256GB Crucial M4 mSATA SSD - Preconfigured as an OS Drive ( Operating System – Drive C: )
750gb 7200rpm (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache) (SKU - S5R306)
6x Blu-Ray Read/8X DVDRW Super Multi Combo Drive - Special! (SKU - S7P557)

That comes out to about $2800. The 680M seems to be the only single-GPU option for nearing desktop gaming performance, which is important for longevity (and being my only PC), but the options right now are limited.

Also, I have no idea about overclocking. I haven't really been paying attention to PC hardware since the Pentium-4 era, and the last time I overclocked a system it kept burning out the power connector for the CPU fan. These Sandy/Ivy Bridge CPUs seem to have overclocking in mind, so I would like to take advantage of it. If it's not too terribly difficult (I'm clueless with voltage settings), then I'll dig through some guides when the time comes. Lastly, is there anything in the pipeline in the next three to six months that I should wait for and reconfigure then? This kind of seems to be a crappy period with new consoles on the horizon, so would it be more prudent to go with a medium-ish build now, then scrap it for a new medium build in a few years? (I'm thinking similar to the Enhanced build with the same BitFenix case posted earlier.)

 

[RibbedHero]

Apologies in advance for the super-long post. I'll try bolding a few spots if someone just wants to skim through it.

I'm going to be in the market for a new PC probably by year's end or maybe by Spring. I currently have a 6-year-old desktop (Core 2 Duo 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM, 896MB GeForce GTX 260) and a 5-year-old laptop (Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM, 512MB GeForce 9500M). I'm looking to consolidate them into one machine, as I don't really have the need for the portability of a laptop anymore. (It was mainly used as a media center that I could take to work for listening to music, but my phone + cloud storage and Pandora have diminished that need.) I'm not that big into PC gaming, but I do want the option available in something that will last for more than a couple years (maybe switch to PC for multiplatform releases). I would like to be able to play some of my PS2 and Gamecube games on it through emulation, too.

My main problem is that I don't have the space for a normal desktop PC. I moved about a year ago and have had my desktop in a closet since. I only recently brought it out because my laptop is starting to fail. Normally, I come home from work and open the laptop on my coffee table and mess around on it while I'm watching TV. Right now, I have my desktop case under the coffee table with the monitor on top. This is a rather unwieldy temporary solution.

I was thinking of going for a mini-ATX build so I can have the case sitting on my credenza. This way, I can hook up the audio to my stereo and output video to my TV (using my receiver as a pass-through). The only problem with that is I couldn't surf the web while watching TV or playing PS3. I would like to keep my monitor on the coffee table for web surfing, then switch to the TV for gaming. Is wireless HDMI possible for that? I know next to nothing about it. Would it be less of a headache to just get a 25' HDMI or DVI-D cable and run it around the perimeter of the room? I would also be looking for advice on a wireless keyboard, mouse, and headphones. I tried wireless keyboard and mouse before (Microsoft brand), but they were awful and kept dropping signal. Also, adding a wireless 360 controller, too: would all these wireless peripherals cause too much signal interference? I've got a wireless router on 2.4GHz channel in the same room, too, not to mention the PS3 with its controllers.

The alternative would be to go for a 17" gaming laptop and just set it on my coffee table like I did with my old laptop. If I wanted to game on the TV, I could move it to the credenza and plug it in. Then, I would only need a wireless keyboard, mouse, and controller.

Pricing things out, it looks like I'm going to be spending about $2500 either way. I also need a new desktop monitor, as the one I have now is an early-model 24" LCD with 16ms response and terrible image retention. I don't play any competitive games, so I'm not sure if a low response time would even be necessary for me. I am also fine with just a 1920x1080 resolution since most gaming would be on a 1080p TV anyway. (As an aside, have games gotten better about this over the last few years? I remember having terrible times getting them to output full-screen on the non-primary monitor, especially if I want to tab over to a browser window on the other monitor and have access to the Start menu.)

Both machines would be fairly similarly-equipped, with the main difference being the CPU (3.5GHz in the desktop versus 2.7GHz in the laptop). The desktop I have configured so far is as follows:

BitFenix Prodigy Arctic White / White Steel / Plastic Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case
ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard with USB BIOS
Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
EVGA 02G-P4-2683-KR GeForce GTX 680 Superclocked, Signature 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support ...
SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC256B/WW 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
LITE-ON Black Internal 12X Blu-ray Combo SATA Model ihes112-04 - OEM
CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX650 650W ATX12V v2.31 / EPSV12 v2.92 80 PLUS
CORSAIR H80 (CWCH80) High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM

Total: $1,900.89 at Newegg. Haven't compared with Amazon yet.
Then add a monitor and additional wireless peripherals to that. I'm also open to suggestions on any tweaks. Storage may be overkill. Will 16GB RAM be overkill for next-gen games? Would I be better off with a 4GB GTX 680? I've never dealt with liquid cooling before (found this one based on another site's mini-ATX build); am I missing additional hardware, or should I just use standard fans?

Not sure if I should cross-post in the gaming laptop thread, but it looks like my only options for a laptop are Sager or MSI. I have no knowledge of either, but I'm not fond of their keyboard layouts with the arrow keys sharing space with right-shift. I currently have an ASUS laptop and love their keyboard layout. Ignoring that, I'm looking at a Sager NP9370:

17.3" Sager FHD 16:9 "Matte Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Matte Screen (1920x1080) (SKU - S1R401)
Sager - 3rd Generation Intel® Ivy Bridge Core™ i7-3820QM (2.7GHz - 3.7GHz, 8MB Intel® Smart Cache, 45W Max TDP) (SKU - S2R203)
nVidia GeForce GTX 680M 4,096MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 [User Upgradeable] (SKU - S3R707)
16GB - DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (SKU - S4S822AP)
256GB Crucial M4 mSATA SSD - Preconfigured as an OS Drive ( Operating System – Drive C: )
750gb 7200rpm (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache) (SKU - S5R306)
6x Blu-Ray Read/8X DVDRW Super Multi Combo Drive - Special! (SKU - S7P557)

That comes out to about $2800. The 680M seems to be the only single-GPU option for nearing desktop gaming performance, which is important for longevity (and being my only PC), but the options right now are limited.

Also, I have no idea about overclocking. I haven't really been paying attention to PC hardware since the Pentium-4 era, and the last time I overclocked a system it kept burning out the power connector for the CPU fan. These Sandy/Ivy Bridge CPUs seem to have overclocking in mind, so I would like to take advantage of it. If it's not too terribly difficult (I'm clueless with voltage settings), then I'll dig through some guides when the time comes. Lastly, is there anything in the pipeline in the next three to six months that I should wait for and reconfigure then? This kind of seems to be a crappy period with new consoles on the horizon, so would it be more prudent to go with a medium-ish build now, then scrap it for a new medium build in a few years? (I'm thinking similar to the Enhanced build with the same BitFenix case posted earlier.)

While I'm not sure about whether you should opt for a desktop or a laptop I can tell you now that planning a build for a PC you're going to build in a few months is futile. Parts will drop in prices, new parts will be released, things get updated. Seeing as this build might be coming in Spring, it's far too early to plan the parts you want to use.

 

[Celcius]

I can't wait for this week
I've been using 8gb of g.skill ripsjaws x with red heatspreaders that don't match my asus z68 mobo. This week I've got 16gb of g.skill ripjaws x on the way with nice blue heatspreaders (finally). My replacement power button from silverstone should also show up and then I'll finally buy some speakers instead of using headphones all the time. The only thing left to do (for now) will be to decide on which gtx 680 model to go with, then I'll pick up Borderlands 2

 

[mkenyon]

I can't wait for this week
I've been using 8gb of g.skill ripsjaws x with red heatspreaders that don't match my asus z68 mobo. This week I've got 16gb of g.skill ripjaws x on the way with nice blue heatspreaders (finally). My replacement power button from silverstone should also show up and then I'll finally buy some speakers instead of using headphones all the time. The only thing left to do (for now) will be to decide on which gtx 680 model to go with, then I'll pick up Borderlands 2

Quiet = Gigabyte Windforce
Performance = MSI Lightning
Water = EVGA

Wait, you have an FT02, right?

Apologies in advance for the super-long post. I'll try bolding a few spots if someone just wants to skim through it.

I'm going to be in the market for a new PC probably by year's end or maybe by Spring.

Then come back in the Spring and don't bother pricing anything out yet. If in Spring, Haswell and the next AMD GPU gen will be out. Who knows what else.

 

[Celcius]

Quiet = Gigabyte Windforce
Performance = MSI Lightning
Water = EVGA

Wait, you have an FT02, right?

Right, so I may go with the asus dcii...

 

[mkenyon]

Right, so I may go with the asus dcii...

I'd try to find someone who can give you some delta temperature numbers on it in the FT02. Looks like it is really reliant on those long heatpipes, which makes me a bit nervous. You don't want to get a card that is all about the quiet performance and lose the benefits of it.

 

[Celcius]

I received an email from silverstone saying that the dcii would be fine, but on second thought I may just get an evga 4gb card to have the possibility of adding a second down the road. I don't consider my current gtx 280 to be loud and I thought my gtx 580 stock cooler was "quiet", so hopefully the gtx 680 will be around 580 noise levels

 

[Calidor]

Then just get the Samsung SSD for not much more.

For your parts, I would maybe bump up to the 520 W seasonic MII instead of that smaller one.

thanks! I'll take the 520W power supply. Regarding the Samsung brand, I guess it's more reliable and the price difference is low. For some reason I thought OCZ was a top brand, but after reading some users reviews I got scared.

 

[Vault 13 Dweller]

How well would you guys say this computer would run Guild Wars 2 on med/high settings? Would it be a good computer to start out with and upgrade? What would be the first upgrade?

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220184
Its the deal of the day and it seems like a pretty good computer.

thanks!

Edit

I was also looking at this one
http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product...071&path=4569a5d5adb926ee3339b22ea46c5a9fen02

but not sure if the price difference makes up for it

 

[Jzero]

How well would you guys say this computer would run Guild Wars 2 on med/high settings? Would it be a good computer to start out with and upgrade? What would be the first upgrade?

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16883220184
Its the deal of the day and it seems like a pretty good computer.

thanks!

I would upgrade the power supply and the graphics card first.
It is okay to start with though.

Edit: don't get the one from best buy. I would just upgrade the first one.

 

[Vault 13 Dweller]

Mind if i ask for a bit of help?

if you had another $200 - $250, what power supply and video card would you buy?

pretty clueless on what works together well.

I'd like to game in 1440x900, don't use computer for anything other then gaming.

 

[Jzero]

Mind if i ask for a bit of help?

if you had another $200 - $250, what power supply and video card would you buy?

pretty clueless on what works together well.

I'd like to game in 1440x900, don't use computer for anything other then gaming.

I would save up a bit more and get the GTX 660 and a power supply like this one. You should be fine with the one it has now but in the future you may want more performance.

You can also get an AMD card like the one catpee mentioned. V

 

[CatPee]

Mind if i ask for a bit of help?

if you had another $200 - $250, what power supply and video card would you buy?

pretty clueless on what works together well.

I'd like to game in 1440x900, don't use computer for anything other then gaming.

$80 SeaSonic 520W PSU, $170 7850. You could go for a cheaper PSU and grab higher-end models of the 7850 from more reputable manufacturers, I guess.

 

[Vault 13 Dweller]

so if i was to buy the newegg computer here
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220184

and this video card
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007KJ1URG/?tag=neogaf0e-20


Would the current power supply be enough for now?

Would this also be a good deal?

Thanks, I really appreciate all the help, its a little overwhelming.

 

[Jzero]

so if i was to buy the newegg computer here
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16883220184

and this video card
http://www.amazon.com/VisionTek-Rade...words=amd+7850


Would the current power supply be enough for now?

Would this also be a good deal?

Thanks, I really appreciate all the help, its a little overwhelming.

The power supply on that computer is pretty shitty (300W) and that card needs 600W

 

[Vault 13 Dweller]

Placed a order for the newegg deal, can't wait, currently playing from a old intel core2 2.16 with 3 gigs of ram and a geforce 8800 gts.

It will be a sweet upgrade! can participate in some big battles without the computer dying on me anymore.

in the coming months ill keep an eye out during the thanksgiving season for a good power supply upgrade and video card!

 

[Wolf Akela]

so if i was to buy the newegg computer here
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220184

and this video card
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007KJ1URG/?tag=neogaf0e-20


Would the current power supply be enough for now?

Would this also be a good deal?

Thanks, I really appreciate all the help, its a little overwhelming.

300W and it's probably a cheapo brand.

You'll need any good 400+W PSU for a 7850. The entire system definitely eats a bit over 300W on load, but far less than 400W.

 

[Ledsen]

The power supply on that computer is pretty shitty (300W) and that card needs 600W

600w? No single card needs that amount of power.

edit: see above

 

[Jzero]

600w? No single card needs that amount of power.

edit: see above

I meant that AMD recommends 600W

Edit: never mind that's for crossfire

 

[RaGMasTeR90]

Hey guys i have quite a bit of a problem.

I recently upgraded my GPU from a 8800 GTS to a GTX560 Ti. I use my old TV as Monitor (LG LCD-TV, HD-Ready). The native Resolution is 1360x768.

With my old GPU everything looked sharp and the colours were deep and great to look at. With my new GPU everything looks not sharp at all, everything seems too bright and it just looks off. I even see little jaggies at the Windows 7 start button ...

I already changed brightness, contrast and all this stuff so that the colours look like before, but i cant get rid of the unsharpness. I cant find anything at the Nvidia Control Panel, neither can i change sharpness with the TV settings.

Its also strange that the Picture looks perfectly fine when i connect the PC to my main TV, which is also HD-Ready and has the same native Resolution.

What can i do GAF? Please help

 

[spadge]

Hey guys i have quite a bit of a problem.

I recently upgraded my GPU from a 8800 GTS to a GTX560 Ti. I use my old TV as Monitor (LG LCD-TV, HD-Ready). The native Resolution is 1360x768.

With my old GPU everything looked sharp and the colours were deep and great to look at. With my new GPU everything looks not sharp at all, everything seems too bright and it just looks off. I even see little jaggies at the Windows 7 start button ...

I already changed brightness, contrast and all this stuff so that the colours look like before, but i cant get rid of the unsharpness. I cant find anything at the Nvidia Control Panel, neither can i change sharpness with the TV settings.

Its also strange that the Picture looks perfectly fine when i connect the PC to my main TV, which is also HD-Ready and has the same native Resolution.

What can i do GAF? Please help

Are you using the same cable? if possible, try using a DVI. I've had HDMI cables before that make things look blurry when connected to a PC.

 

[amar212]

Hello PC GAF.

I need advice for this, thanx to anyone who takes time to answer!

I am trying to build by first gaming-PC configuration ever. I have limited budget and this the the configuration my friend recommended me at the end:

INTEL Core i5 2320, 3.00GHz, 7MB cache, GPU, QuadCore
PC-10666, 8 GB, G.SKILL Ripjaws X series, DDR3 1333MHz
PCI-E GAINWARD GeForce GTX 650, 2GB DDR5
120GB SSD drive (it fits in my budget and I really do not need more space besides game-installs)

Notice: Rig will be used for driving games only and hooked on my HD Ready plasma (720p) ATM, with plan to upgrade the set in next year to 1080p. It will be the greatest resolution intended, since I am "comfy couch" player.

For how long is this configuration "future-proof"?
What are the games you could play today with this configuration (besides racing) and be satisfied with performance?
Can I expect to hit 60fps with this configuration in majority of titles?

Thanx to anyone for insight.

 

[Hazaro]

Apologies in advance for the super-long post. I'll try bolding a few spots if someone just wants to skim through it.

Lastly, is there anything in the pipeline in the next three to six months that I should wait for and reconfigure then? This kind of seems to be a crappy period with new consoles on the horizon, so would it be more prudent to go with a medium-ish build now, then scrap it for a new medium build in a few years? (I'm thinking similar to the Enhanced build with the same BitFenix case posted earlier.)

The Desktop you have there parted out is pretty solid. The thing I'd swap is the HDD (As it's a Seagate now). If you want something now it's a good time to buy if you don't want to wait 6-8 months of Haswell. New GPU stuff has landed from both companies.

If you want something that will last longer then you should wait for Haswell since you are spending that much, but it would be a CPU/Mobo upgrade and they wouldn't go down in that value much compared to your system cost. I say go for it now and enjoy!

Mind if i ask for a bit of help?

if you had another $200 - $250, what power supply and video card would you buy?

pretty clueless on what works together well.

I'd like to game in 1440x900, don't use computer for anything other then gaming.

VP450 and 7850.

Placed a order for the newegg deal, can't wait, currently playing from a old intel core2 2.16 with 3 gigs of ram and a geforce 8800 gts.

It will be a sweet upgrade! can participate in some big battles without the computer dying on me anymore.

in the coming months ill keep an eye out during the thanksgiving season for a good power supply upgrade and video card!

The 620 GPU with that is kind of shit. Drop in ye olde 8800GTS. and save up for a VP450 and deal on a GPU! I'd honestly go used if you are looking to scrap by.

Hey guys i have quite a bit of a problem.

I recently upgraded my GPU from a 8800 GTS to a GTX560 Ti. I use my old TV as Monitor (LG LCD-TV, HD-Ready). The native Resolution is 1360x768.

With my old GPU everything looked sharp and the colours were deep and great to look at. With my new GPU everything looks not sharp at all, everything seems too bright and it just looks off. I even see little jaggies at the Windows 7 start button ...

I already changed brightness, contrast and all this stuff so that the colours look like before, but i cant get rid of the unsharpness. I cant find anything at the Nvidia Control Panel, neither can i change sharpness with the TV settings.

Its also strange that the Picture looks perfectly fine when i connect the PC to my main TV, which is also HD-Ready and has the same native Resolution.

What can i do GAF? Please help

Is the resolution defaulting to HDTV or something? What about 1366 or 1368x768 or 1366x720 or 1280x768?

Sorry I'm that well versed in TV hookups.

Hello PC GAF.

I need advice for this, thanx to anyone who takes time to answer!

I am trying to build by first gaming-PC configuration ever. I have limited budget and this the the configuration my friend recommended me at the end:

INTEL Core i5 2320, 3.00GHz, 7MB cache, GPU, QuadCore
PC-10666, 8 GB, G.SKILL Ripjaws X series, DDR3 1333MHz
PCI-E GAINWARD GeForce GTX 650, 2GB DDR5
120GB SSD drive (it fits in my budget and I really do not need more space besides game-installs)

Notice: Rig will be used for driving games only and hooked on my HD Ready plasma (720p) ATM, with plan to upgrade the set in next year to 1080p. It will be the greatest resolution intended, since I am "comfy couch" player.

For how long is this configuration "future-proof"?
What are the games you could play today with this configuration (besides racing) and be satisfied with performance?
Can I expect to hit 60fps with this configuration in majority of titles?

Thanx to anyone for insight.

Get a 6850 or 6870 if possible. It's so much faster for the money it's not even a comparison. And yes with a 6850 or 6870 you'd play a lot of games on good settings at 60FPS.
Example boost: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/540?vs=614

Future proof is a stupid word, but I'd get an overclocking motherboard (P67/Z68/Z77) and a 2500K or 3570K for sure. Put the chip at a nice 4.2Ghz or so and you should be set for at least 3 years doing GPU upgrades as you see fit.
If you are budget constrained to a cheap motherboard and the cheapest i5 (What you have) then I suppose it's fine and will be good for a solid while. Games will take a bit to fully use 4 cores and once they do it'll just be really nice! So I wouldn't worry.

 

[Hazaro]

Updated Build Sheet and trimmed the OP a little bit. SFF post and part list is now a thing! Please PM any errors or criticisms.
Accessories coming soon.

Hazaro's PC Builds: http://bit.ly/Q4_2012_Haz - http://bit.ly/GAFSFF