PC Build Advice/Review Thread

[Adajer]

Tom who? TTL? Tomshardware? IMO, yes. If arent able to play w/e games you are playing at satisfactory frame rates/settings. At the same time, I feel that all the current generation gpu's are overpriced by ~$50. No telling what they will do with the 7xx series and how long they will take to release each card.

I mostly say yes because the 4xx series are such power hogs and heaters.

[lilfoo]

Tomshardwear. Thanks

[BaneTheBrawler]

So as I've been fleshing out this idea more, I've come to the conclusion that an aluminum briefcase/small rifle case with modified hinges probably fits my needs for the HID-hub portion, but I've also decided I'd still like to try to build a custom tower, ideally with a built-in battery backup supply (One that won't screech when it's unplugged). I'd like to fit it into a rolling aluminum case that will match the HID-hub. What kind of dimensions do I need to fit a powerful motherboard/graphics card/power supply/etc without overheating everything? I realize it depends on the specific product, but I'm not looking for exact specifications. A little extra space won't kill me. Also, I've been looking but I can't find a battery system designed for sustained desktop use, so if anyone knows of anything like that I'd love to hear about it.

I have however found this which is super cool and accomplishes what I want (I think), but is its own contained unit and fairly bulky. I'd like something I could build into the case.

At this stage, money isn't an issue, since the build itself is at least a year out. I'm just trying to nail down the design.

[Ohai]

Hello! I know this isn't really a build, but seems like you guys know your parts so maybe you can help me out. My roommate is interested in this laptop and I was wondering if you guys could tell if its a good deal, or a good computer for that matter. I knew a little bit about desktops back during the "upgrade for FFXIV" phase, but its probably irrelevant now anyways lol. I know absolutely nothing about laptops so I told him I would see what you guys have to say. It'd be used for general school use as well as car tuning in the future. He says he knows its capable of what he needs it for, but I'm wondering if there isn't a better option out there.
Also, he found a refurbished one for $550. Is that one worth it or are refurbished laptops something to stay away from?

Link for laptop: http://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-Black-1..._fb_revshr_001

Link for specs PDF: http://i.walmart.com/i/rb/0088611276918.pdf

(Keep in mind for other options, I guess it MUST have a light up keyboard... and should probably keep it under $600)

If this question belongs somewhere else on the forum, please let me know! Thanks so much for your time guys!

[Nitsuki]

So just finished installing my stuff, OC'd my i5 to 4.3GHz, pretty sweet, but now i'm really curious on OCing the ram and my vid card, i got 8GB of corsair vengeance DDR3-1600, and an MSI 560Ti twin frozr, so i'm curious how safe can i OC them to? I know that the ram involves voltages, and that's where i'm stumped...

[Jojimbo]

RAM can be a bit hard/impossible to OC depending on it's voltages and model, I'm not sure how well the Corsair RAM will OC but as it's (probably) 1.5v already I would just leave it at 1600MHz; RAM speed makes a very very small difference on SB/IB.

GPU is easy though, download MSI Afterburner (or other favourite GPU OCing program), google around to see what other people have been hitting as max OC (so you know when to stop) and increase core/memory clocks a small amount. Then run OCCT/Furmark and/or Unigine Heaven benchmark to check for stability (no artefacts/crashes) and temperature, you can enable On Screen Display with MSI AB so you can see temps inside a program. Keep increasing clocks until it either gets too hot or you see artefacts/crashes then bring it down a notch, you can try increasing voltages to get a bit more out of it but that's up to you (assuming the card is unlocked)

[Nitsuki]

I got the GPU stable at 950 from 880, at the 1GHz speed w/ the proper voltage/memory it would immediately crash, at 950 it's stable. My CPU i had to lower the OC to 4.1GHz as i was running a bit unstable @4.3, my pc would boot up, and shut down in a couple seconds then boot up normally, wasn't comfortable with that so i took it down a notch. I'll leave the RAM alone, with what I have now, i'm actually pretty happy.

[Jojimbo]

What cooler do you have again? Even basic cooler like Hyper 212+ should be able to handle 4.4GHz OC on a 3570k, what were the voltages you had the CPU at?

[Treble]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fJzc

(GTX 680 is already purchased)
Mostly finalized on what I think I want for my build, but still iffy on the SSD, Cooler and Case. To be used for gaming and work (modeling in Maya, no rendering; photoshop/Sai, Illustrator).
The SSD is relatively cheap, especially for its size, though there are some reported failures / not reading in the BIOS. Not sure if the performance increase really warrants an extra $200 though.
Cooler, its between the Hyper 212 Evo, Thermaltake Frio and one of the Noctuas.
Case, don't really care about looks, as long as it has good ventilation and space.
Also considered stepping down from the 3770k to 3570k to reduce price, but I was told that the CPU's the last place I should be cutting back on.

Thoughts?

[Nitsuki]

What cooler do you have again? Even basic cooler like Hyper 212+ should be able to handle 4.4GHz OC on a 3570k, what were the voltages you had the CPU at?

I went with the Zalman CNPS9900A, i've always had their coolers since my AMD64x2 days. Never failed me, however it is possible that i'm not using the proper voltages as I am using Easytune6 that my gigabyte mobo brought (forgot to mention i decided to get a gigabyte Z77 mobo rather than the ASUS), of the tuning settings i'm using, i'm using the first level OC, as far as manual OCing, i'm not 100% sure on the voltages to use on 4.4GHz for my 3570k so any help i guess i would appreciate.

*edit* changed some voltages, 4.4GHz safe OC. lol

[Jojimbo]

I'm using 1.24v for my OC, might be able to go lower (or higher) depending on your specific CPU.

@Treble: Looks ok, although if you are spending that much on the MB I would get a better cooler so you can take advantage of the better VRMs (Phanteks PH-TC14PE or Noctua NH-D14 are best air coolers). I would get a Samsung 830 over the OCZ SSD as well, similar/same price but a better track record and SSDs are worth it imo (could always get a 128GB instead of you don't want to spend as much)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fKb7 is what I would consider, note the Bluray driver you picked doesn't include software (which can cost up to $100) and PC + Bluray can be a major pita. Get 750W PSU if you think you'll SLI in the future (only need SLI 680 for 5760x1080 surround gaming or as a future upgrade), changed monitor to a u2312hm (IPS). There are plenty of alternatives for the case though

[Caiyuo]

Seconding the SSD brand change, Something Awful's tech forum has had nothing but bad things to say about OCZ both as a company and the dependability of their SSDs.

[Treble]

@Treble: Looks ok, although if you are spending that much on the MB I would get a better cooler so you can take advantage of the better VRMs (Phanteks PH-TC14PE or Noctua NH-D14 are best air coolers). I would get a Samsung 830 over the OCZ SSD as well, similar/same price but a better track record and SSDs are worth it imo (could always get a 128GB instead of you don't want to spend as much)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fKb7 is what I would consider, note the Bluray driver you picked doesn't include software (which can cost up to $100) and PC + Bluray can be a major pita. Get 750W PSU if you think you'll SLI in the future (only need SLI 680 for 5760x1080 surround gaming or as a future upgrade), changed monitor to a u2312hm (IPS). There are plenty of alternatives for the case though

The Noctua NH-D14 was the one I couldn't remember, thanks. I was going with the 750W PSU for the possibility to SLI later on, in case I needed a better card for working in Maya, but its not a total dealbreaker. I didn't even notice the Samsung 830 was that cheap right now, good catch.
I wondered why that blu-ray drive was so cheap; I mostly just wanted one for playing movies, but I guess I can use my PS3 for that if it starts getting too expensive in the PC build. If its as much of a pain on PC as you say, I might just get a DVD drive and be done with that.
I think I'll drop the SSD for now though and pick one up when the price drops down. Would require a reinstall but I don't feel like the improvement warrants the price yet.

[Jojimbo]

I would get a 128GB at least personally, they speed up photoshop start times by quite a bit, as well as every other program installed on it (including boot), very nice upgrade once you actually start using one.

[Nitsuki]

For the dolphin emulator users, would it more advisable to sli or to upgrade from my 560ti to say a 660ti or higher? No matter how much i change settings, i can't break past 25fps on xenoblade.

[Jojimbo]

Pretty sure dolphin doesn't use SLI/CF, I can confirm later but straight upgrade would be better if so

EDIT:: What's your CPU? And 7950 is better value than 660Ti, $10 more but better performance

[Nitsuki]

my cpu is 3570k OC'd at 4.4GHz, i'm not totally fond of AMD/ATi brands anymore due to bad driver issues and being really unreliable in the past (Previously owned an AMD64x2 which the dual-core didn't work and horrible driver issues and an even worse ffxi experience with a radeon 9800XT where i get artifacts for no reason after a year of use). So i'd like to stick with nvidia, i've never been the type of person that SLI's (tho i am considering it), I always went for straight upgrades.

[Jojimbo]

AMD is pretty good atm, drivers are ok although they are a bit slow with CF profiles at times (not that it matters with single card). Both sides have their pros and cons but it's not worth completely avoiding one of them

[hey]

Dolphin doesn't use sli/cf at all. And your video card can't possibly be the bottleneck. I run a 5770, and dolphin still doesn't even come close to bottlenecking on that, even at 4x IR. You could probably remove your gpu entirely, and still get the same fps.

Honestly, if you can't break 25 fps, at all, my best guess would be that you're playing the pal version, and have fps limit set to auto/audio. You shouldn't have any issue with a 3570k at 4.4 ghz. I have no issues with this game (28-40 fps, depending on what's going on) using LLE dsp emulation (hle is way faster) on my 2500k at 4.3 ghz.

[Nitsuki]

Well shit, i am playing the pal version due to the fact tht i have my new game+ file on it, could that be the reason then? Any possible way to break that or convert the save file to an NA save?